 Imperator Aleksandr II served in the Baltic Fleet and represented Russia, along with the cruiser Rurik, at the opening of the Kiel Canal in June 1895. She ran aground in Vyborg Bay later that year, but sustained little damage. She joined the Mediterranean Squadron in August 1896 and supported Russian interests during the Cretan Revolt of 1897. She returned to Kronstadt in September 1901. She was reboilered in December 1903 and modified in 1904 to serve as an artillery school ship. Her crew refused to suppress the mutinous garrison of Fort Konstantin defending Kronstadt in August 1906. She was assigned to the Artillery Training Detachment in 1907. She spent most of World War I in Kronstadt where her crew was active in the revolutionary movement. She was renamed Zarya Svobody (Заря Свободы — Dawn of Freedom) in May 1917. She was turned over to the Kronstadt port authority on 21 April 1921 before she was sold for scrap on 22 August 1922. She was towed to Germany during the autumn of 1922, but was not stricken from the Navy List until 21 November 1925.
