Russian battleship Dvenadsat Apostolov Dvenadsat Apostolov ( ) was a pre - dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy , the sole ship of her class . She served in the Black Sea Fleet and was built by Nikolayev Admiralty Dockyard . Laid down in February 1888 , and launched in September 1890 , she was commissioned in December 1892 . She became an immobile submarine depot ship in 1912 after she was decommissioned and disarmed the previous year . She was captured by the Germans in 1918 in Sevastopol and was handed over to the Allies in December 1918 . Lying immobile in Sevastopol , she was captured by both sides in the Russian Civil War before permanently falling into the hands of the Soviets when the White Russians evacuated the Crimea . She was used as a stand - in for the title ship during the filming of " The Battleship Potemkin " and was finally scrapped in 1931 . Design . " Dvenadsat Apostolov " was originally ordered as one of a pair of battleships for the Black Sea Fleet , but the second ship was awarded to a firm on the verge of bankruptcy and they made no significant progress . Her initial armament was planned to be eight guns , four in two twin - gun turrets and four in the central casemate . However , the final form of the turrets and machinery layout was not decided upon , even after construction of the hull began in early 1888 . The following September the Naval Technical Committee decided to increase the thickness of the waterline armour belt from to at the cost of . It also decided to move the forward turret back because it thought that the ship might be bow - heavy . They also decided against the original armament and fixed on four guns in twin - gun barbettes at each end of the ship with four guns in a shortened central battery , although it added over of additional weight to the ship . General characteristics . She was long at the waterline and long overall . She had a beam of and a draft of . Her exact displacement was never measured , but has been estimated at , over more than her designed displacement of . Her hull was generally similar to that of the although her ram was longer . It was subdivided by eleven transverse and one centreline longitudinal watertight bulkheads and she had a complete double bottom deep . She had a metacentric height of . She demonstrated better seagoing qualities than the older during a storm in October 1894 , although she rolled badly and leaked through her ports and hatches . She was assessed as a considerably better fighting ship that the " Imperator Aleksandr II " class . Propulsion . " Dvenadsat Apostolov " had two 3 - cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines built by Baltic Works and had a total designed output of . Eight cylindrical boilers , four single - ended and four double - ended , provided steam to the engines , which drove two screw propellers . On trials , the powerplant produced and a top speed of . After her initial engine trials her funnels were raised by to improve their draft and to keep the superstructure clear of funnel gases . She carried of coal at full load that provided a range of at a speed of . She had six Siemens dynamo s with a total output of 540 kW . Armament . The main armament of " Dvenadsat Apostolov " were two pairs of Obukhov Model 1877 30 - caliber guns mounted in twin barbette mounts forward and aft . They had a maximum elevation of 15° and could depress to −5° and could traverse 270° . 66 rounds per gun were carried . They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of to a range of at an elevation of 6° . The rate of fire was one round every five minutes , but the loading machinery would not work if the ship was heeled more than 5° . The four Model 1877 35 - caliber guns were mounted on pivot mounts in the central casemate . The sides of the hull were recessed to give them axial fire . They could traverse a total of 100° . Each gun had an arc of fire of 130° . The ship carried 130 rounds for each gun . The guns could elevate to a maximum of 8 . 5° and depress to −8° . They fired a ' heavy ' shell that weighed at a velocity of or a ' light ' shell that weighed with a muzzle velocity of . A ' light ' shell had a maximum range of when fired at an elevation of 12° , although the casemate only permitted a maximum elevation of 8 . 5° . The guns could fire one round per minute . Her ten Hotchkiss gun s were mounted in embrasures in the hull or superstructure . They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of at a rate of 20 rounds per minute to a range of . Two Hotchkiss revolving cannon were mounted at the forward end of the superstructure and two on the platform just abaft the second funnel . They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of at a rate of 32 rounds per minute to a range of . Six single - barrelled versions , with a rate of fire of only twenty rounds per minute , were carried in the fighting top on the foremast and two were in small embrasures at the after end of the superstructure . The location of the other two guns is unknown . " Dvenadsat Apostolov " carried six above - water torpedo tube s . One tube was in the bow , two tubes on each broadside and a tube in the stern . Protection . Compound armour was supplied by Charles Cammell of Sheffield , England and comprised the bulk of the armour used in " Dvenadsat Apostolov " . The main waterline belt had a maximum thickness of abreast the machinery spaces , but thinned to 12 inches abreast the magazine and was only thick at its lower edge . It was long and high , most of which ( ) was below the waterline as actually completed because she was overweight . The belt tapered to eight inches at the lower edge . Bulkheads nine to twelve inches thick provided transverse protection for the ship ' s vitals . The lower casemate armour was long and twelve inches thick . Above it was the casemate armour for the six - inch guns that consisted of of steel armour . The barbette armour was thick . Initially the barbette was open - topped , but a thick protective hood was added later , possibly in 1893 . The conning tower had eight - inch sides of steel armour . History . " Dvenadsat Apostolov " was built by the Nikolayev Admiralty Dockyard at Nikolayev . She was laid down in 21 August 1889 , launched in 13 September 1890 , and sailed to Sevastopol for fitting out on 11 May 1892 . She joined the fleet on 17 June 1893 , but she was not fully ready for service until 1894 . In 1895 she was used to test a new system of laying mines by rails that had been invented by Lieutenant A . P . Ygrumov and also to evaluate the proper dimensions for anti - torpedo nets and their booms . For this last test torpedoes were fired at the ship with the anti - torpedo nets deployed . One gun , of an unknown calibre , burst in 1903 , killing one man and wounding two others . " Dvenadsat Apostolov " participated in the failed attempt to recapture the mutinous battleship on 30 June 1905 . She attempted to ram " Potemkin " but sailors sympathetic to the mutiny reversed the engines and then prevented an attempt by Captain Kolands to blow his own ship by severing the detonating wires . The Naval Technical Committee proposed to reboiler her in 1907 with new Belleville water - tube boilers , but this was forestalled by a plan to reuse those of the . Simultaneously a proposal to rearm her with four ten - inch guns in two turret s and several 6 - inch guns in a new casemate was made by the Naval General Staff . This was estimated to cost 1 , 275 , 000 rouble s and would only add to her displacement , but both proposals were rejected by the Naval Technical Committee which believed it was a waste of money given her obsolete layout . The General Staff made another proposal in 1909 to rearm her as with smaller guns as a guardship intended to defend Sevastopol from attacks by enemy light forces . This was initially approved by the Navy Minister , Admiral Ivan Grigorovich in June 1909 , but this was later reversed . " Dvenadsat Apostolov " was transferred to the Sevastopol Port Authority on 1 April 1911 , stricken from the Navy List and disarmed on 15 April . She became a depot ship for submarines in 1912 . Renamed as " Blokshiv ( hulk ) No . 8 " on 4 September 1914 , she was used on various harbour duties . Immobile , she was captured by the Germans in Sevastopol in May 1918 and handed over to the Allies in December 1918 . She was captured by both sides during the Russian Civil War , but was abandoned by the White Russians when they evacuated the Crimea . Her machinery was removed in 1921 . She was used as a stand - in for the " Potemkin " during the filming of " The Battleship Potemkin " , while reportedly serving as a mine storage hulk , before she was sold for scrap on 28 January 1931 .