"Sissoi Veliky" was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Baltic Fleet in the 1890s. The ship's construction was marred by organizational, logistical and engineering problems and dragged on for more than five years. She was commissioned in October 1896 with an appalling number of design and construction faults, and only a few of them were fixed during her lifetime. Immediately after sea trials, "Sissoi Veliky" sailed to the Mediterranean to enforce the naval blockade of Crete during the Greco-Turkish War. In 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 "Navarin" participated in the defence of the International Legations in Beijing for more than two months.