List of battleships of Russia and the Soviet Union

This is alist of battleships of Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.
Dvenadsat Apostolovwas apre-dreadnought battleshipbuilt for theBlack Sea Fleet. She joined the fleet in mid-1893, but was not fully ready for service until 1894.Dvenadsat Apostolovparticipated in the failed attempt to recapture the mutinous battleshipPotemkinin 1905.Decommissioned and disarmed in 1911, the ship became an immobilesubmarine depot shipthe following year.Dvenadsat Apostolovwas captured by the Germans in 1918 inSevastopoland was handed over to theAlliesin December. Lying immobile in Sevastopol, she was captured by both sides in theRussian Civil Warbefore she was abandoned when theWhite Russiansevacuated theCrimeain 1920. The ship was used as a stand-in for the title ship during the filming ofThe Battleship Potemkinand was finally scrapped in 1931.
Navarinwas apre-dreadnought battleshipbuilt for theBaltic Fleetin the late 1880s and early 1890s. The ship spent the early part of her career deployed in the Mediterranean and in theFar East. She participated in the suppression of theBoxer Rebellionin 1900 before returning to the Baltic Fleet in 1901. Several months after the beginning of theRusso-Japanese Warin February 1904, she was assigned to the2nd Pacific Squadronto relieve the Russian forces blockaded inPort Arthur. During theBattle of Tsushimain May 1905, she was sunk byJapanesedestroyerswhich spread twenty-four linkedminesacross her path during the night.Navarinstruck two of these mines and capsized with the loss of most of her crew.
Tri Sviatiteliawas a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Black Sea Fleet. She wasflagshipof the forces pursuing the mutinous battleshipPotemkinin June 1905. DuringWorld War Ithe ship encountered the GermanbattlecruiserSMSGoeben(formallyYavuz Sultan Selim) twice, but never hit the German ship, nor was she damaged by her. From 1915 onward she was relegated to the coast bombardment role as she was the oldest battleship in the Black Sea Fleet.Tri Sviatiteliawas refitting inSevastopolwhen theFebruary Revolutionof 1917 began and she was never operational afterwards.
Tri Sviatiteliawas captured when the Germans took the city in May 1918 and was turned over to theAlliesafter theArmisticein November 1918. Her engines were destroyed in 1919 by the British when they withdrew from Sevastopol to prevent the advancingBolsheviksfrom using her against theWhite Russians. She was abandoned when the Whites evacuated theCrimeain 1920 and was scrapped in 1923.
Sissoi Velikywas 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 aftersea trials,Sissoi Velikysailed to theMediterraneanto enforce thenaval blockadeofCreteduring theGreco-Turkish War. In 1897 she suffered a devastating explosion of the aftgun turretthat killed 21 men. After nine months in the docks ofToulonfor repairs, the ship sailed to theFar Eastto reinforce the Russian presence there. In the summer of 1900,Sissoi Velikysupported the international campaign against theBoxer RebellioninChina. Sailors fromSissoi VelikyandNavarinparticipated in the defence of the International LegationsinBeijingfor more than two months.
In 1902 the ship returned toKronstadtfor repairs, but very little was achieved until the early losses of the Russo-Japanese War caused the formation of theSecond Pacific Squadronto relieve the Russian forces blockaded inPort Arthur.Sissoi Velikysailed for the Far East with the rest of the Baltic battleships and participated in theBattle of Tsushimaon 27 May 1905. She survived the daytime artillery duel with AdmiralHeihachirō Tōgō's ships, but was badly damaged and taking on water. During the night Japanesedestroyersscored atorpedohit on the ship that damaged her steering. The next morning the ship was unable to maintain speed because of flooding, and her crew surrendered to Japanesearmed merchant cruisers. The shipcapsizedlater that morning with the loss of 47 crewmen.
ThePetropavlovskclass, sometimes referred to as thePoltavaclass, was aclassof threepre-dreadnought battleshipsbuilt for theImperial Russian Navyduring the 1890s. They were transferred to thePacific Squadronupon completion and based atPort Arthurbefore the start of theRusso-Japanese Warof 1904–1905. All three ships participated in theBattle of Port Arthuron the second day of the war.Petropavlovsksank two months after the war began after striking one or moremineslaid by the Japanese. The remaining two ships participated in theBattle of the Yellow Seain August 1904 and were sunk orscuttledduring the final stages of theSiege of Port Arthur.
Poltavawassalvagedafter the Japanese captured Port Arthur and incorporated into theImperial Japanese Navy. The ship, renamedTangoin Japanese service, participated in theBattle of Tsingtaoin late 1914, duringWorld War I. She was sold back to the Russians in 1916 and renamedChesmaas her original name was in use by another battleship. The ship became theflagshipof the Russian Arctic Flotilla in 1917 and her crew supported theBolshevikslater that year. She was seized by the British in early 1918 when theyintervenedin theRussian Civil War, abandoned by them when they withdrew andscrappedby the Soviets in 1924.
Rostislavwas a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Black Sea Fleet in the 1890s. She was conceived as a small, inexpensivecoastal defence ship, but the Navy abandoned the concept in favor of a compact, seagoing battleship with a displacement of 8,880 long tons (9,022 t). Poor design and construction practices increased her actual displacement by more than 1,600 long tons (1,626 t).Rostislavbecame the world's first capital ship to burnfuel oil, rather than coal.Her combat ability was compromised by the use of 10-inch (254 mm) main guns instead of thede factoRussian standard of 12 inches.
Her hull was launched in September 1896, but non-delivery of the ship's main guns delayed her maiden voyage until 1899 and her completion until 1900. In May 1899Rostislavbecame the first ship of the Imperial Navy to be commanded by a member of theHouse of Romanov, CaptainAlexander Mikhailovich.From 1903 to 1912 the ship was theflagshipof thesecond-in-commandof the Black Sea Fleet. During the1905 Russian Revolutionher crew was on the verge of mutiny but remained loyal to the regime, and actively suppressed themutinyof the cruiserOchakov.
Rostislavwas actively engaged inWorld War Iuntil the collapse of the Black Sea Fleet in the beginning of 1918. She was the first Russian ship to fire upon enemy targets on land during World War I, the first Russian ship to be hit by a Germanairstrike, and the first one to destroy a submarine, albeita Russian one. In April 1918 the fleeingBolsheviksabandonedRostislavinSevastopol. One year later the British occupation forces permanently disabled her engines. TheWhite forcesrepurposed the ship as a towedfloating battery, then scuttled her in theStrait of Kerchin November 1920.
ThePeresvetclass was aclassof threepre-dreadnought battleshipsbuilt for theImperial Russian Navyaround the end of the 19th century.PeresvetandPobedawere transferred to thePacific Squadronupon completion and based atPort Arthurfrom 1901 and 1903. All three ships were lost by the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War;PeresvetandPobedaparticipated in theBattles of Port Arthurand theYellow Seaand were sunk during theSiege of Port Arthur.Oslyabya, the third ship, was sunk at the Battle of Tsushima with the loss of over half her crew.PeresvetandPobedaweresalvagedafter the Japanese captured Port Arthur and incorporated into theImperial Japanese Navy.Peresvetwas sold back to the Russians duringWorld War Iand sank after hitting Germanminesin the Mediterranean in early 1917 whilePobeda, renamedSuwo, participated in theBattle of Tsingtaoin late 1914. She became a gunnery training ship in 1917 until she was disarmed andhulkedin 1922–1923. The ship wasscrappedafter the end ofWorld War II.
Kniaz Potemkin Tavricheskiy(«Князь Потёмкин-Таврический», 1900 BSF) – RenamedPanteleimon(«Пантелеймон») 1905, renamedPotemkin-Tavricheskiy(«Потёмкин-Таврический) 1917,Borets za Svobodu(«Борец за Свободу») 1917, destroyed by British troops atSevastopol1919
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Retvizan(Ретвизан) was a pre-dreadnought battleship built before the Russo-Japanese War for the Imperial Russian Navy in theUnited States. She was built by theWilliam Cramp & SonsShip & Engine Building Company ofPhiladelphia, although the armament was made at the Obukhov works inSaint Petersburgand shipped to America for installation.
Retvizanwas torpedoed during the Japanese surprise attack onPort Arthurduring the night of 8–9 February 1904 and grounded in the harbor entrance when she attempted to take refuge inside as her draft had significantly deepened from all of the water she had taken aboard after the torpedo hit. She was eventually refloated and repaired by mid-June. She joined the rest of the 1st Pacific Squadron when they attempted to reachVladivostokthough the Japanese blockade on 10 August. The Japanese battle fleet engaged them in theBattle of the Yellow Seaand forced most of the Russian ships to return to Port Arthur after killing the squadron commander and damaging hisflagship. She was sunk by Japanesehowitzersin December after the Japanese had gained control of the heights around the harbor.
The Japanese raised her after the surrender of Port Arthur in January 1905 and repaired her. She was commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy asHizen(肥前)in 1908. InSasebowhen the Japanese declared war onGermanyin 1914 she was sent to reinforce the weak British squadron inBritish Columbia, but was diverted toHawaiiwhen reports of the arrival of a German gunboat there were received. She was sent to search for other German ships after the Americans interned the German ship in November, but did not encounter any. AfterWorld War Ishe supported the Japaneseinterventionin theRussian Civil War, but was disarmed in 1922 in accordance with theWashington Naval Treaty. She was sunk as a gunnery target in 1924.
Tsesarevich(Цесаревич) was a pre-dreadnought built inFrancefor the Pacific Squadron. She participated in the Russo-Japanese War, and was the flagship ofAdmiralWilgelm Vitgeftin theBattle of the Yellow Sea. Her design was the basis of theBorodino-classbattleships which were built in Russia.
The fiveBorodino-class battleships (also known as theSuvorovclass) were pre-dreadnoughts built between 1899 and 1905 for the Pacific Squadron. Three of the class were sunk and one captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Battle of Tsushima.
Historically, theBorodino-class battleships established two records; under Russian AdmiralZinovy Rozhestvenskyriding in his flagship,Knyaz Suvorov, he led the Russian battleship fleet on the longest coal powered journey ever conducted by a steel battleship fleet during wartime, a voyage of over 18,000 miles (29,000 km) one way. Secondly, although sunk in battle, theBorodinos participated in the only decisive battleship fleet action ever fought. Lastly, what may be the most distinctive item of interest for the future, is the fact that the ships were constructed withtumblehomehulls, seemingly wider at the bottom then narrower towards the top. As a lesson from Tsushima, tumblehome construction was discarded in warship design, as they were regarded as unstable under combat conditions.
TheEvstaficlass were the last pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Black Sea Fleet. They were slightly enlarged versions of theRussian battleshipPotemkin, with increased armour and more guns. Numerous alterations were made as a result of experience in theRusso-Japanese Warof 1904–1905 that seriously delayed the completion of the two ships.
They were the most modern ships in the Black Sea Fleet when World War I began and formed the core of the fleet for the first year of the war, before the newerdreadnoughtsentered service. They forced the GermanbattlecruiserSMSGoebento disengage during theBattle of Cape Sarychshortly after Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire in late 1914. Both ships covered several bombardments of theBosporusfortifications in early 1915, including one where they were attacked byGoeben, but they managed to drive her off. Later,EvstafiandIoann Zlatoustwere relegated to secondary roles after the first dreadnought entered service in late 1915, and were subsequently put into reserve in 1918 inSevastopol.
Both ships were captured when the Germans took the city in May 1918 and were turned over to theAlliesafter theArmisticein November 1918. Their engines were destroyed in 1919 by the British when they withdrew from Sevastopol to prevent the advancingBolsheviksfrom using them against theWhite Russians. They were abandoned when the Whites evacuated theCrimeain 1920 and were scrapped in 1922–1923.
TheAndrei Pervozvannyclass were the last predreadnought battleships built for the Baltic Fleet. They were conceived by the Naval Technical Committee in 1903 as an incremental development of theBorodino-classbattleships with increased displacement and heaviersecondary armament. Work on thelead ship,Andrei Pervozvanny(Saint Andrew), commenced at theNew Admiralty,Saint Petersburgin March 1904;Imperator Pavel Itrailed by six months.
The disastrous experiences of theRusso-Japanese Warled to countless redesigns, change orders and delays in construction. After the completion ofAndrei Pervozvannyits builders identified seventeen distinct stages of her design.Andrei Pervozvannywas launched in October 1906 but subsequent alterations delayed completion until 1911. Almost all of her hull was armored, albeit thinly; redesign and refinement of protective armor continued until 1912. The ship's armament mixed novelquick-firing, long-range, 8-inch guns with obsolescent12-inch 40-calibermain guns. TheAndrei Pervozvanny-class battleships became the only battleships of theOld Worldfitted withlattice masts,which were replaced with conventional masts at the beginning ofWorld War I. The imposing ships, the largest in the Russian Navy until the completion ofGangut,were dated from the start: by the time of theirsea trialstheRoyal Navyhad already launched theOrion-classsuper-dreadnoughts.
In the first year ofWorld War I,Andrei PervozvannyandImperator Pavel Icomprised the battle core of the Baltic Fleet. For most of the war they remained moored in the safety ofSveaborgandHelsingfors.Idle, demoralized enlisted men subscribed toBolshevik ideologyand on March 16 [O.S.March 3] 1917 took control of the ships in a violent mutiny. The battleships survived theIce Cruise of 1918, andAndrei Pervozvannylater ruthlessly gunned down theKrasnaya Gorka fortmutiny of 1919. After theKronstadt rebellionthe Bolshevik government lost interest in maintaining the battleships, and they were laid up in November–December 1923.
TheGangut-class battleships were the firstdreadnoughtsbuilt for the Imperial Russian Navy, begun beforeWorld War I. Their role was to defend the mouth of theGulf of Finlandagainst the Germans, who never tried to enter, so the ships spent their time training and providing cover forminelayingoperations. Their crews participated in the generalmutinyof theBaltic Fleetafter theFebruary Revolutionin 1917, and joined theBolsheviksthe following year. The Russians were forced to evacuate their naval base atHelsinkiafterFinlandbecame independent in December 1917. TheGangut-class ships led the first contingent of ships toKronstadteven though the Gulf of Finland was still frozen.
All of the dreadnoughts except forPetropavlovskwerelaid upin October–November 1918 for lack of manpower.Poltavawas severely damaged by a fire while laid up in 1919.Petropavlovskwas retained in commission to defend Kronstadt and Leningrad against the British forces supporting theWhite Russiansalthough she also helped to suppress a mutiny by the garrison of Fort Krasnaya Gorka in 1919. Her crew, and that ofSevastopol, joined theKronstadt rebellionof March 1921. After it was bloodily crushed, those ships were given proper 'revolutionary' names.Parizhskaya Kommuna, the formerSevastopol, was modified in 1928 to improve her sea-keeping abilities so that she could be transferred to theBlack Sea Fleetwhich had nothing heavier than a light cruiser available. This proved to be the first of a series of modernizations where each ship of the class was progressively reconstructed and improved. A number of proposals were made in the 1930s to rebuildFrunze, ex-Poltava, to match hersistersor even as a battlecruiser by removing one turret, but these came to naught and she washulkedpreparatory to scrapping.
The two ships of the Baltic Fleet did not play a prominent role in theWinter War, but did have theiranti-aircraftguns significantly increased beforeOperation Barbarossain 1941. However this did not help either ship as they attempted to provide fire support for the defenders of Leningrad.Marathad her bow blown off andOktyabrskaya Revolyutsiyawas badly damaged by multiple bomb hits in September. The former was sunk, but later raised and became a floating battery for the duration of theSiege of Leningradwhile the latter spent over a year under repair, although this was lengthened by subsequent bomb hits while in the hands of the shipyard. Both ships bombarded German and Finnish troops so long as they remained within reach, butOktyabrskaya Revolyutsiyadid not venture away from Kronstadt for the duration of the war.Parizhskaya Kommunaremained in Sevastopol until forced to evacuate by advancing German troops. She made one trip to besieged Sevastopol in December 1941 and made a number of bombardments in support of theKerch Offensiveduring January–March 1942. She was withdrawn from combat in April as German aerial supremacy had made it too risky to risk such a large target.
SevastopolandOktyabrskaya Revolyutsiyaremained on the active list after the end of the war although little is known of their activities. Both were reclassified as 'school battleships' (uchebnyi lineinyi korabl) in 1954 and stricken in 1956 after which they were slowlyscrapped. There were several plans (Project 27) to reconstructPetropavlovskusing the bow ofFrunze, but they were not accepted and were formally cancelled on 29 June 1948. She was renamedVolkhovin 1950 and served as a stationary training ship until stricken in 1953 and subsequently broken up.Frunzewas finally scrapped beginning in 1949.
TheImperatritsa Mariya-class ships were the first dreadnoughts built for the Black Sea Fleet. All three ships were built inNikolayevduring World War I. Two ships were delivered in 1915 and saw some combat againstex-Germanwarships that had been 'gifted' to theOttoman Empire, but the third was not completed until 1917 and saw no combat due to the disorder in the navy after theFebruary Revolutionearlier that year.
Imperatritsa Mariyawas sunk by amagazineexplosion inSevastopolharbor in 1916.Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya, having been renamedSvobodnaya Rossiyain 1917, was scuttled inNovorossiyskharbor in 1918 to prevent her from being turned over to the Germans as required by theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk. The crew ofVolia, asImperator Aleksander IIIhad been renamed in 1917, voted to turn her over to the Germans. They were only able to make one training cruise before they had to turn her over to the victoriousAlliesin 1918 as part of the armistice terms. The British took control of her, but turned her over to theWhite Russiansin 1920 who renamed herGeneral Alekseyev. She only had one operable gun turret by this time and she provided some fire support for the Whites, but it was not enough. They were forced to evacuate theCrimealater that year and sailed forBizertewhere she was interned by the French. She was eventually scrapped there during the 1930s to pay her docking fees.
Imperator Nikolai I(Император Николай Ior Emperor Nikolai I) was built during World War I for service in theBlack Sea. She was designed to counter the multiple Ottoman orders for dreadnoughts which raised the possibility that the Russian dreadnoughts being built for theBlack Sea Fleetcould be out-numbered. The ship used the same main armament as the precedingImperatritsa Mariyaclass, but was larger and more heavily armored.Imperator Nikolai Iwas launched in 1916, but construction was suspended on 24 October 1917. TheSovietsconsidered completing her in 1923, but rejected the idea. She was towed to Sevastopol in 1927 andscrapped.
TheSovetsky Soyuz-class battleships (Project 23,Советский Союз), also known as "Stalin's Republics", were a class of battleships begun by the Soviet Union in the late 1930s but never brought into service. They were designed in response to the battleships being built by Germany.Only four hulls of the sixteen originally planned had beenlaid downby 1940, when the decision was made to cut the program to only three ships to divert resources to an expanded army rearmament program.
These ships would have rivaled theImperial JapaneseYamatoclassin size if any had been completed, although with significantly weaker firepower: 406-millimeter (16 in) guns compared to the 460-millimeter (18.1 in) guns of the Japanese ships. The failure of the Soviet armor plate industry to buildcemented armorplates thicker than 230 millimeters (9.1 in) would have negated any advantages from theSovetsky Soyuzclass's thicker armor in combat.
Construction of the first four ships was plagued with difficulties as the Soviet shipbuilding and related industries were not prepared to build such large ships. One battleship,Sovetskaya Belorussiya, was cancelled on 19 October 1940 after serious construction flaws were found. Construction of the other three ships was suspended shortly afterNazi Germany invaded the Soviet Unionin June 1941, and never resumed. All three of the surviving hulls were scrapped in the late 1940s.
HMSRoyal Sovereignwas loaned by theRoyal Navyin 1944 in lieu of reparations from Italy. She was assigned to theNorthern Fleetwith the name ofArkhangelskand used to escort convoys during the war. Returned to Britain in poor condition in 1949 when the USSR received theItalian battleshipGiulio Cesareand sold for scrap.
The Italian battleshipGiulio Cesarewas turned over to the Soviet Union by Italy in 1948 aswar reparations. RenamedNovorossiysk, she was assigned to the Black Sea Fleet. Sunk with 608 deaths following explosion in 1955; probably due to striking a leftover German mine.