User:Sturmvogel 66/Sandbox/BBs of the Russo-Japanese War

This is a list of battleships of the Russo-Japanese War.

Key

Main guns	The number and type of the main battery guns
Armor	Waterline belt thickness
Displacement	Ship displacement at full load
Propulsion	Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed in knots
Service	The dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate
Laid down	The date the keel began to be assembled
Launched	The date the ship was launched

Russian Empire

Imperator Nikolai I

Main article: Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I

Imperator Nikolai I at anchor

Imperator Nikolai I was again called up during the Russo-Japanese War as part of the Third Battle Division under the command of Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov. She surrendered the day after the Battle of Tsushima to the Japanese and was reclassified as a gunnery training ships. Sources conflict on the fate of Imperator Nikolai I, with Stephen McLaughlin saying that she was stricken 1 May 1915 and sunk as a target by the battlecruisers Kongō and Hiei, although Watts and Gordon say that she was scrapped in 1922.

Ship	Main guns	Armor	Displacement	Propulsion	Service
					Laid down	Launched	Entered service
Imperator Nikolai I (Russian: Император Николай I)	4 × 12-inch (305 mm)	14 inches (356 mm)	9,594 long tons (9,748 t)	2 shafts, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines 12 cylindrical boilers, 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)	4 August 1886	1 June 1889	July 1891

Navarin

Main article: Russian battleship Navarin

Navarin at sea

Navarin ([Наварин] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The ship was assigned to the Baltic Fleet and spent the early part of her career deployed in the Mediterranean and in the Far East. She participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 before returning to the Baltic Fleet in 1901. Several months after the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in February 1904, she was assigned to the 2nd Pacific Squadron to relieve the Russian forces blockaded in Port Arthur. During the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, she was sunk by Japanese destroyers which spread twenty-four linked mines across her path during the night. Navarin struck two of these mines and capsized with the loss of most of her crew.

Ship	Main guns	Armor	Displacement	Propulsion	Service
					Laid down	Launched	Entered service
Navarin (Russian: Наварин)	4 × 12-inch	16 inches (406 mm)	10,206 long tons (10,370 t)	2 shafts, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines 12 cylindrical boilers, 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)	31 May 1890	20 October 1891	June 1896

Sissoi Veliky

Main article: Russian battleship Sissoi Veliky

Postcard of Sissoi Velikie at anchor

Sissoi Veliky was laid down on 7 August 1891, but construction problems kept the ship from being launched until 2 June 1894. She was commissioned on 18 October 1896. Immediately after sea trials, Sissoi Veliky sailed to the Mediterranean to enforce the naval blockade of Crete during the Greco-Turkish War. On 3 March 1897 she suffered a devastating explosion of the aft gun turret that killed 21 men. After nine months in the docks of Toulon for repairs, the ship sailed to the Far East to reinforce the Russian presence there. In the summer of 1900, Sissoi Veliky supported the international campaign against the Boxer Rebellion in China. Sailors from Sissoi Veliky and the battleship Navarin participated in the defence of the International Legations in Beijing for more than two months.

Sissoi Veliky sailed for the Far East with the rest of the Second Pacific Squadron and participated in the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905. She survived the daytime artillery duel with Admiral Heihachirō Tōgō's ships, but was badly damaged and taking on water. During the night Japanese destroyers scored a torpedo hit on the ship that damaged her steering. The next morning the ship was unable to maintain speed because of flooding, and the crew surrendered to Japanese armed merchant cruisers. The ship capsized later that morning with the loss of 47 crewmen.

Ship	Main guns	Armor	Displacement	Propulsion	Service
					Laid down	Launched	Fate
Sissoi Veliky (Russian: Сисой Великий)	4 × 12-inch	16 inches	10,400 long tons (10,567 t)	2 shafts, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines 12 Belleville boilers, 15 kn	7 August 1891	2 June 1894	Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima, 29 May 1905

Petropavlovsk class

Main article: Petropavlovsk-class battleship

Right elevation and plan drawing from Brassey's Naval Annual 1902

The Petropavlovsk class, sometimes referred to as the Poltava class, was a class of three pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the 1890s. They were transferred to the Pacific Squadron upon completion and based at Port Arthur before the start of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. All three ships participated in the Battle of Port Arthur on the second day of the war. Petropavlovsk sank two months after the war began after striking one or more mines laid by the Japanese. The remaining two ships participated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea in August 1904 and were sunk or scuttled during the final stages of the Siege of Port Arthur.

Poltava was salvaged after the Japanese captured Port Arthur and incorporated into the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship, renamed Tango in Japanese service, participated in the Battle of Tsingtao in late 1914, during World War I. She was sold back to the Russians in 1916 and renamed Chesma as her original name was in use by another battleship. The ship became the flagship of the Russian Arctic Flotilla in 1917 and her crew supported the Bolsheviks later that year. She was seized by the British in early 1918 when they intervened in the Russian Civil War, abandoned by them when they withdrew and scrapped by the Soviets in 1924.

• Poltava («», 1894 BF) – Scuttled at Port Arthur 1904, refloated by Japan 1905 and commissioned as Coastal Defence Ship Tango, purchased by Russia in 1916 and commissioned as Battleship Chesma («Чесма»), decommissioned 1924

Ship	Main guns	Armor	Displacement	Propulsion	Service
					Laid down	Launched	Fate
Poltava (Russian: Полтава)	6 × 12-inch	203 mm (8.0 in)	11,400 long tons (11,583 t)	2 shafts, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines 14 or 16 cylindrical boilers, 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)	26 June 1883	20 May 1886	Sunk as target ship, 22 April 1912
Petropavlovsk (Russian: Петропавловск)					26 June 1883	18 May 1886	Scrapped, starting in early 1920s
Sevastopol (Russian: Севастополь)					26 June 1883	1 June 1887	Scrapped beginning in 1922

Peresvet class

Main article: Peresvet-class battleship

Peresvet at anchor 1901

The Peresvet class was a class of three pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy around the end of the 19th century. Peresvet and Pobeda were transferred to the Pacific Squadron upon completion and based at Port Arthur from 1901 and 1903. All three ships were lost by the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905; Peresvet and Pobeda participated in the Battles of Port Arthur and the Yellow Sea and were sunk during the Siege of Port Arthur. Oslyabya, the third ship, was sunk at the Battle of Tsushima with the loss of over half her crew. Peresvet and Pobeda were salvaged after the Japanese captured Port Arthur and incorporated into the Imperial Japanese Navy. Peresvet was sold back to the Russians during World War I and sank after hitting German mines in the Mediterranean in early 1917 while Pobeda, renamed Suwo, participated in the Battle of Tsingtao in late 1914. She became a gunnery training ship in 1917 until she was disarmed and hulked in 1922–23. The ship was scrapped after the end of World War II.

• Peresvet («», 1898 BF) – Scuttled at Port Arthur 1904, refloated by Japan 1905 and commissioned as Coastal Defence Ship Sagami, purchased by Russia and commissioned as Cruiser Peresvet, mined near Suez 1917
• Osliabia («», 1898 BF) – Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima, 1905 (514 men lost)
• Pobeda («», 1900 BF) – Scuttled at Port Arthur 1904, refloated by Japan 1905 and commissioned as Coastal Defence Ship Suwo, hulked 1922, BU 1946

Ship	Main guns	Armor	Displacement	Propulsion	Service
					Laid down	Launched	Fate
Peresvet (Russian: Пересвет)	4 × 10-inch (254 mm)	203 mm (8.0 in)	11,400 long tons (11,583 t)	2 shafts, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines 14 or 16 cylindrical boilers, 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)	26 June 1883	20 May 1886	Sunk as target ship, 22 April 1912
Pobeda (Russian: Победа)					26 June 1883	18 May 1886	Scrapped, starting in early 1920s
Oslyabya (Russian: Ослябя)					26 June 1883	1 June 1887	Scrapped beginning in 1922

Retvizan

Main article: Russian battleship Retvizan

Retvizan ([Ретвизан] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) was a Russian pre-dreadnought battleship built before the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 for the Imperial Russian Navy in the United States. She was built by the William Cramp and Sons Ship & Engine Building Company of Philadelphia, although the armament was made at the Obukhov works in Saint Petersburg and shipped to America for installation. Retvizan was named after the Swedish ship of the line Rättvisan (meaning The Justice) which was captured by the Russians at the Battle of Viborg Bay in 1790.

Retvizan was torpedoed during the Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur during the night of 8–9 February 1904 and grounded in the harbor entrance when she attempted to take refuge inside as her draft had significantly deepened from all of the water she had taken aboard after the torpedo hit. She was eventually refloated and repaired by mid-June. She joined the rest of the 1st Pacific Squadron when they attempted to reach Vladivostok though the Japanese blockade on 10 August. The Japanese battle fleet engaged them in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and forced most of the Russian ships to return to Port Arthur after killing the squadron commander and damaging his flagship. She was sunk by Japanese howitzers in December after the Japanese had gained control of the heights around the harbor.

The Japanese raised her after the surrender of Port Arthur in January 1905 and repaired her. She was commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy as Hizen (肥前) in 1908. In Sasebo when the Japanese declared war on Germany in 1914 she was sent to reinforce the weak British squadron in British Columbia, but was diverted to Hawaii when reports of the arrival of a German gunboat there were received. She was sent to search for other German ships after the Americans interned the German ship in November, but did not encounter any. After World War I she supported the Japanese intervention in the Russian Civil War, but was disarmed in 1922 in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty. She was sunk as a gunnery target in 1924.

Ship	Main guns	Armor	Displacement	Propulsion	Service
					Laid down	Launched	Fate
Retvizan (Russian: Ретвизан)	4 × 12 in (305 mm)	14 in (355.6 mm)	9,594 long tons (9,748 t)	2 shafts, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines 12 cylindrical boilers, 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)	4 August 1886	1 June 1889	Captured at the Battle of Tsushima, 29 May 1905 Sunk as target, 3 October 1915

Tsesarevich

Main article: Russian battleship Tsesarevich

Tsesarevich at anchor during her sea trials in Toulon, September 1903

Tsesarevich (Цесаревич) was a battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy, built in France by Compagnie des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée à la Seine. She was named after the Tsesarevich — the title reserved for the eldest son of the Tsar and heir to the Russian throne. She was based in the Pacific and fought in the Russo-Japanese War, and was the flagship of Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. The Tsesarevich design was the basis of the Borodino-class battleships which were built in Russia.

Renamed Grazhdanin («Гражданин») 1917, BU 1924

Ship	Main guns	Armor	Displacement	Propulsion	Service
					Laid down	Launched	Fate
Tsesarevich (Russian: Цесаревич)	4 × 12-inch	14 in (355.6 mm)	9,594 long tons (9,748 t)	2 shafts, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines 12 cylindrical boilers, 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph)	4 August 1886	1 June 1889	Scrapped, 1924

Borodino class

Main article: Borodino-class battleship

Oblique view of Oryol at anchor

The five Borodino-class battleships were pre-dreadnoughts built between 1899 and 1905 for the Imperial Russian Navy. Three of the class were sunk and one captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Tsushima.

Ship	Main guns	Armor	Displacement	Propulsion	Service
					Laid down	Launched	Fate
Borodino (Russian: Бородино)	6 × 12 in (305 mm)	203 mm (8.0 in)	11,400 long tons (11,583 t)	2 shaft vertical compound or vertical triple expansion steam engines 14 or 16 cylindrical boilers, 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)	26 June 1883	20 May 1886	Sunk as target ship, 22 April 1912
Imperator Aleksandr III (Russian: Император Александр III)					26 June 1883	18 May 1886	Scrapped, starting in early 1920s
Oryol (Russian: Орёл)					26 June 1883	1 June 1887	Scrapped beginning in 1922
Kniaz Suvorov (Russian: Князь Суворов)					5 May 1891	9 March 1892	Scrapped, beginning in 1924

Empire of Japan

Shikishima class

Main article: Shikishima-class battleship

Shikishima in 1905

The Shikishima class (敷島型戦艦, Shikishima-gata senkan) was a two-ship class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1890s. As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships herself, they were designed and built in the UK. The ships participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, including the Battle of Port Arthur on the second day of the war. Hatsuse sank after striking two mines off Port Arthur in May 1904. Shikishima fought in the Battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima and was lightly damaged in the latter action, although shells prematurely exploded in her main armament in each battle. The ship was reclassified as a coastal defence ship in 1921 and served as a training ship for the rest of her career. She was disarmed and hulked in 1923 and finally broken up for scrap in 1948.

Ship	Main guns	Armor	Displacement	Propulsion	Service
					Laid down	Launched	Fate
Shikishima (Japanese: 敷島)	4 × 12-inch	9 in (230 mm)	14,500 long tons (14,733 t)	2 shafts, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines 25 Belleville boilers, 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph)	29 March 1897	1 November 1898	Scrapped, 1948
Hatsuse (Japanese: 初瀬)					10 January 1898	27 June 1899	Sunk, 15 May 1904

References

• Campbell, N.J.M. (1978). Preston, Antony (ed.). The Battle of Tsu-Shima, Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. Vol. II. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 46–49, 127–35, 186–92, 258–65. ISBN 0-87021-976-6.
• Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Evans, David; Peattie, Mark (1997). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-192-7.
• Forczyk, Robert (2009). Russian Battleship vs Japanese Battleship, Yellow Sea 1904–05. Oxford, UK: Osprey. ISBN 978 1-84603-330-8.
• McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-481-4.
• Morris, Rear Admiral Roger (October 2007). "The Night After Tsushima: The End of the Imperial Russian Fleet 27–28 May 1905". Warships (157). London: World Ship Society: 14–30. ISSN 0966-6958.
• Pleshakov, Constatine (2002). The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-05791-8.
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
• Warner, Denis; Warner, Peggy (2002). The Tide at Sunrise: A History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905 (2nd ed.). London: Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-5256-3.