Russian cruiser Rossia

Rossia
Class overview
NameRossia
Operators Russian Navy
Preceded byRurik
Succeeded byGromoboi
Built1893–1896
In commission1896–1922
Planned1
Completed1
Scrapped1
History
Russian Empire
NameRossiya (Russian: Россия)
NamesakeRussia
OperatorImperial Russian Navy
BuilderBaltic Works, Saint Petersburg
Laid downOctober 1893[Note 1]
Launched30 April 1896
CommissionedLate 1896
FateSold for scrap, 1 July 1922
General characteristics (as built)
TypeArmored cruiser
Displacement12,195 long tons (12,391 t)
Length485 ft (147.8 m)
Beam66.6 ft (20.3 m)
Draught26.2 ft (8.0 m)
Installed power
Propulsion3 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines + 1 TE cruising engine
Speed19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range7,740 nmi (14,330 km; 8,910 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement839 officers and crewmen
Armament
Armor

Rossia (Russian: Россия) was an armored cruiser of the Imperial Russian Navy built in the 1890s. She was designed as a long-range commerce raider and served as such during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. She was based in Vladivostok when the war broke out and made a number of sorties in search of Japanese shipping in the early months of the war without much success.

Rossia, along with the other armored cruisers of the Vladivostok Cruiser Squadron, attempted to rendezvous in the Strait of Tsushima with the main portion of the Pacific Fleet sailing from Port Arthur in August 1904, but were delayed and had to return to port without them. They encountered a Japanese squadron of four armored cruisers between them and their base shortly after they turned around. The Japanese sank the oldest Russian ship, Rurik, and damaged Rossia and Gromoboi during the Battle off Ulsan, but both Russian ships were repaired within two months.

After the end of the war Rossia returned to Kronstadt where she underwent a three-year refit that strengthened her armament. She was fitted with mine rails in 1914 and laid one minefield during World War I that damaged two German light cruisers. She was reconstructed beginning in late 1915 to further strengthen her armament, but played no part during the rest of the war as her crew became involved in revolutionary activities in 1917. She was taken over by the Bolsheviks in late 1917, but was put into reserve in 1918 and sold for scrap in 1922.
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