Retvizan was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy, launched on 23 October 1900. Named after a Swedish ship of the line that was captured during the battle of Vyborg Bay in 1790, Retvizan was transferred to the Far East in 1902. In the Russo-Japanese War, the ship was torpedoed during the Japanese attack on Port Arthur on the night of 8/9 February 1904 and grounded in the harbour entrance when she attempted to take refuge inside. She was refloated and repaired in time to join the rest of the 1st Pacific Squadron when they attempted to reach Vladivostok through the Japanese blockade on 10 August. The Japanese battle fleet engaged them again in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, forcing most of the Russian ships to return to Port Arthur. Retvizan was sunk there by Japanese howitzers in December, then raised and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as Hizen in 1908. After World War I she supported the Japanese intervention in the Russian Civil War. (Full article...)