Bayan-class cruiser

Admiral Makarov and Bayan at anchor, circa 1913
Class overview
NameBayan
Operators
Preceded byGromoboi
Succeeded byRurik
Built1899–11
In commission1902–20
Completed4
Lost1
Scrapped3
General characteristics
TypeArmored cruiser
Displacement7,750–7,802 long tons (7,874–7,927 t)
Length449 ft 7 in (137.0 m)
Beam71 ft 6 in (21.8 m)
Draft22 ft (6.7 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 shafts, 2 vertical triple-expansion steam engines
Speed21 kn (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range3,900 nmi (7,200 km; 4,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement573
Armament
Armor

The Bayan class was a group of four armored cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy around the beginning of the 20th century. Two of the ships were built in France, as Russian shipyards had no spare capacity. The lead ship, Bayan, was built several years earlier than the later three. The ship participated in several of the early naval battles of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, and provided naval gunfire support for the Imperial Russian Army until she struck a mine. Bayan was trapped in harbor during the subsequent Siege of Port Arthur, and was sunk by Japanese artillery. She was salvaged and put into service with the Imperial Japanese Navy with the name of Aso. She mostly served as a training ship before she was converted into a minelayer in 1920. The ship was sunk as a target in 1932.

Her three sisters were all assigned to the Baltic Fleet. Pallada was the first ship lost by the Russians during World War I when she was sunk by a German submarine in October 1914. The two surviving ships were modified to lay mines, and participated in the Battle of Åland Islands in 1915 and the German invasion of the Estonian islands in 1917. They were decommissioned in 1918 and sold for scrap in 1922.