page_title: Russian cruiser Rurik (1906)
section_title: Battle of Åland Islands
hierarchical_section_title: Russian cruiser Rurik (1906) / Service history / World War I / Battle of Åland Islands
caption_attribution_description: English: German night minelaying action near Bogskär lighthouse on 1st and 2nd of the July 1915 and russian fleet assembly in area west from Saaremaa on July 1, 1915. Polski: Akcja minowa okrętów niemieckich pod latarnią Bogskär w nocy z 1 na 2 lipca 1915 roku oraz koncentracja okrętów rosyjskich w rejonie na zachód od Saaremy 1 lipca 1915 roku.
context_page_description: Rurik was the last armored cruiser to be built for the Imperial Russian Navy. The ship was designed by the British firm Vickers and built in their shipyard, being laid down in 1905 and completed in 1908. She was armed with a main battery of four 254 mm guns and a secondary battery of eight 203 mm guns; her top speed was rated at 21 knots. Despite her powerful gun armament, Rurik was rendered obsolescent even before she was completed by the advent of the British battlecruisers of the Invincible class, which were more powerfully armed and faster. Her design is nevertheless well regarded and naval historians rate her as one of the best vessels of her type ever built.
  Rurik served as the flagship of the Russian Baltic Fleet for much of her relatively short career. She made one overseas cruise with a trip to the Mediterranean Sea in mid-1910, but spent the rest of her early career in the Baltic Sea. After the start of World War I, she operated with the other cruisers of the fleet, making raids on German positions in the southern Baltic, and after being modified to carry naval mines, took part in laying offensive minefields to block German naval traffic.
context_section_description: In late June, the Russian naval command planned a bombardment operation to support the garrison at Windau (in what is now Latvia) during a German attack on the port. Initial plans called for an attack on the city of Rostock, well behind German lines, in part to demonstrate the strength of the Russian fleet, but Vice Admiral Vasily Kanin, who had replaced Essen as the fleet commander, refused to grant permission to send Rurik that far into enemy territory. The target of the operation was therefore changed to Memel. Bakhirev, by now promoted to rear admiral, led the bombardment force, the composition of which is unclear. According to Paul Halpern, it consisted of the cruisers Admiral Makarov, Bayan, Bogatyr, and Oleg, while Rurik and the destroyer Novik covered them and a group of submarines screened ahead. But Gary Staff indicates that Rurik, Oleg, and Bogatyr were to conduct the bombardment while Admiral Makarov and Bayan covered them. The ships departed port shortly after midnight on 1 July. Heavy fog forced Bakhirev to cancel the bombardment since they could no longer reliably locate Memel and his cruisers became separated from Rurik and Novik.
  Bakhirev planned to make another attempt the next morning, but he learned by way of decrypted intercepts from German wireless signals of a minelaying operation on the 1st while en route to Riga and decided to try to intercept the vessels instead. He took the four cruisers from the bombardment group, and guided by wireless intercepts, steamed west to ambush the German flotilla that consisted of an armored cruiser, two light cruisers, a minelayer, and seven destroyers. The two sides made contact at around 06:30. In the ensuing Battle of Åland Islands, the Germans turned to flee while the Russian cruisers concentrated on the minelayer SMS Albatross, forcing it ashore.
  As he began the engagement, Bakhirev ordered Rurik to reinforce him, and at 09:45, she arrived in the vicinity but found no friendly or enemy vessels. The ship's commander, Captain A. M. Pyshnov, turned his ship north in an attempt to locate Bakhirev's ships, and shortly thereafter, she encountered the German light cruiser SMS Lübeck. The two ships quickly opened fire, and while Rurik was significantly more powerful than her opponent, she failed to score any hits, while receiving ten herself. One started a fire on Rurik's forecastle and a near miss caused a large splash that damaged her forward rangefinder. The German 10.5 cm (4.1 in) shells were not powerful enough to penetrate her armor, but they nevertheless temporarily disabled one of her main battery turrets when fumes from an explosion threatened to poison its crew.
  The German armored cruiser SMS Roon then intervened and ordered Lübeck to disengage, and at 10:04, Rurik ceased fire at the light cruiser. The Russian cruiser then turned to engage Roon, which had by that time been joined by the light cruiser Augsburg, opening fire at a range of 15,000 to 16,000 m (16,000 to 17,000 yd). She concentrated most of her fire on Roon, but again failed to score any hits. She received another hit, which struck the rear conning tower and damaged the surrounding superstructure. The German commander decided to attempt to disengage, using the poor visibility to cover his escape; at around the same time, Russian lookouts spotted what they mistakenly believed to be a U-boat. The threat of a submarine attack led Rurik to disengage, which gave the Germans enough time to make good their escape.
caption: Map of German (blue) and Russian (red) movements during the action