¹⁄700

The latest news “of the wire” from Combrig Model Warships, is of a very fine 1/700th scale addition to their range of pre-dreadnought battleships with the Battleship Tango (ex-Poltava), Japan, 1908.

Full details to hand on this kitset are set out below:

Battleship Tango (ex-Poltava), Japan, 1908
Manufacturer: Combrig Model Warships
Scale: 1/700
Regular Price: To be advised
Release date: Available now.
Item code: 70449

We will of course update you as and when more information comes to hand.

Watch this space for her “reincarnation” the Battleship Chesma, 1916 also coming from Combrig Model Warships.

Ships History

The Tango was one of eight Russian pre-dreadnought battleships captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. She was built as the Russian Petropavlovsk-class battleship Poltava, and was commissioned into the Imperial Russian Navy in 1898. She was one of three ships in her class: her sister ships Petropavlovsk and Sevastopol were both sunk during the Russo-Japanese War.

The Poltava fought in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, but failed to escape and was scuttled during the Siege of Port Arthur. Salvaged after the war in October 1905, she was refloated, repaired, and taken into service in the Imperial Japanese Navy as the Tango, taking her name from the ancient Japanese province of Tango, now a part of Kyoto-fu.
On 28 August 1912, the Tango was re-classified as a 1st class Coastal Defence Vessel.

During World War I, Japan and Russia became allies, and the Tango was returned to the Russian navy on 4 April 1916, where she was renamed the Chesma, and transferred to the Arctic. Captured by the British during the Allied invasion of northern Russia during the Russian Civil War and damaged beyond repair, she was scrapped in 1923.

Images courtesy of Combrig Model Warships and Wikipedia.

Ships History courtesy of Wikipedia.