Imperial Russia (1895-1921) – About 150 ships Overview of Russian light ships development As in many other navies, Russia started the development of torpedo-boats as a sub-echelon, a type of ship which went after gunboats. The first Russian torpedo-boat was built at Baltic Works as eary as 1877. In the 1880s series of two to … Read more
Bayan class Cruisers (1905) Russia (1899-1905) Bayan, Admiral Makarof, Bayan (ii), Pallada (ii) Bayan and Makaroff in 1914 (Baltic Fleet) The first Bayan (1899) The Bayan class had a total of 4 units, although the first, Bayan first of the name remained unique, built at the Seyne in Toulon NyD, but more Russian than French … Read more
Poltava class Battleships (1894) Russia (1894) Petropavovsk, Sevastopol, Poltava Before the Petropavlovsk class dreadnoughts, Russia built locally a class of pre-dreadnought battleships already called by that name, but which did not existed anymore after 1905. Only Tchesma (ex-Poltava, ex-Tango) was in service in WW1, after being recovered. In fact all three were victims of the … Read more
Russia (1911) – Petropavovsk, Sevastopol, Poltava A long Development ☒ Note: This old post no longer fits new 2026 standards, and is scheduled for being rewritten and massively expanded. These ships were the first Russian Dreadnoughts. They were ordered by Tsar Nicholas II in person, and this despite a very agitated Duma (the revolt of … Read more
WW1 Russian Submarines About 8 classes, approx. 60 boats 1903-1916 A long gestation, started in 1853: The story of submarines with Russia started quite early, right at the time of the Crimean in 1853, by that time “submarine warfare” Podvodnaia Voina was already an idea, but the term and the start of a doctrine was … Read more
General Admiral class armoured cruisers (1875) General-Admiral, Gerzog Edinburgski The first armoured cruisers ? This pair of Russian Imperial ships are considered by John Francis Beeler (p. 222, British Naval Policy in the Gladstone-Disraeli Era, Stanford U 1997) to be the world’s first armoured cruisers. At that time, the Baltic has been pacified and now … Read more
Cruiser Minin (1866) Russia, 1866 The oldest cruiser worldwide ? The Minin (Минин) was still in service in 1914. By that time, she was 48 years old, and by the time the war ended, get passed half a century. Yet she was not a museum ship, but fully active the whole time for the Russian … Read more
Rossiya class cruisers (1896) Russia (1896) Armoured Cruisers – Rossiya, Gromoboi The Giant Russian Cruisers Back in the 1890s the fast-growing Russian Empire and its global ambition worried the British naval staff much more than the threat posed by a then still small German Navy. The Russian Navy in 1893 ordered for the pacific squadron … Read more
Evstafi class battleships (1910) Russia (1910) – Battleships – Evstafi, Ioann Zlatoust Genesis: 1905′ cruel lessons The total defeat suffered by the Pacific fleet, then the entire baltic fleet in the hands of the Japanese in 1905 not only durably harmed the regime’s authority outside but weakened it inside as shown by the Potemkine mutiny … Read more
Sissoi Veliky class battleships (1896) Russia (1896) Battleships Rostislav, Sissoi Veliky Both battleships were very similar, in fact they were near-sister ships, built at New Admiralty and Nicolaiev yards. They were relatively small, and only differed in armament (see later), that’s why they are seen together here. Rostislav with the black sea fleet Sissoi Veliky … Read more
