Russian cruiser Rurik ( 1892 ) The Rurik ( Рюрик ) was an armoured cruiser built for the Imperial Russian Navy in 1895 . She was named in honour of Rurik , the semi - legendary founder of ancient Russia . She was sunk at the battle of Ulsan in the Russo - Japanese War . Design and construction . The Imperial Russian Navy , by the end of the 19th century required a cruiser capable of undertaking long cruises into foreign waters for the purpose of destroying commercial vessels , especially if war was to occur between Russia and Great Britain . Russian admiral Ivan Shestakov submitted the design of the " Rurik " to the Baltic Works at St . Petersburg for construction , bypassing the normal procedure of submitting the design to the Naval Technical Committee ( MTK ) . The original specifications for the vessel , as submitted by Shestakov , are currently lost , but presumably Shestakov intended the ship to be able to travel from " the Baltic to Vladivostok without recoaling en route " . It appears that Shestakov wanted a design similar to the and such a design was submitted via a constructor from the Baltic Works to the MTK . That design , a 9 , 000 - ton , 8 inch belted cruiser , was rejected by the MTK . It is more likely that the design was rejected because of tension between Shestakov and the MTK and the General Admiral of the Navy , Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich , rather than technical issues with the design . The submitted design called for a long warship ( over 400 ft ) and had a design endurance of . Shestakov was unable , however , to fight for the submitted design , as he died in December 1888 . Shestakov ' s successor , Chikhachev , had excellent relations with the MTK board , and the Baltic Works design was quickly rejected . The MTK design which followed was a 10 , 000 - ton vessel with a 10 inch belt and with an operational speed and range of and respectively . The " Rurik " would also sport a complete barque rig . Construction began in 1890 after powerplant issues were solved by the technical designers at the Baltic Works . As plans and designs of the " Rurik " were being finalised , rumours began floating as to the exact nature of the vessel . In particular , Britain became extremely nervous about the new cruiser , fearing greatly for her large commercial fleet which she depended on . The British press " fuelled anxiety to the point where it approached paranoia " As it turned out , the Royal Navy grossly overestimated the threat posed by the " Rurik " . With only a top speed of in good conditions , the barque rig cruiser looked obsolete compared to new British warships being developed and built . While there was a heavy armament of four guns and 16 guns , along with a quartet of torpedo tubes , the armour for the " Rurik " was light , with only an average 2 . 5 inches on the decks and an average 10 inches on the sides using nickel steel plate . Service history . After her commissioning , the " Rurik " headed for the Russian Pacific Fleet based at Vladivostok . Admiral Fyodor Dubasov , who commanded the Pacific Squadron , recommended various modifications to the ship after a short period of service , including reboilering and the removal of the ship ' s rigging . The reboilering project never got off the ground , but the amount of rigging was cut down significantly . When the Russo - Japanese War broke out in 1904 , the " Rurik " and the other cruisers of the Pacific Squadron , the , , and , were all charged with seeking out and destroying Japanese merchant vessels in the Sea of Japan and along the coasts of the Japanese home islands . By August 1904 , only one ship had been sunk and the Imperial Japanese Army had moved siege artillery close enough to shell the main Russian port in the Pacific , Port Arthur . The siege of Port Arthur kept most of the Russian naval vessels assigned to the Pacific Squadron inside the port , despite several failed attempts at breakout . On 14 August , three of the four Vladivostok - based cruisers sortied towards Port Arthur ( " Bogatyr " having received damage due to grounding ) in an attempt to assist in lifting the Japanese blockade . They were met by a squadron of Japanese warships commanded by Vice Admiral Kamimura Hikonojō in the Tsushima Strait between Korea and Japan , which resulted in the battle off Ulsan . The Japanese force had four modern armored cruisers , , , , and . Early in the engagement , " Rurik " ( the rear ship of the Russian formation ) was hit by Japanese fire three times in the stern , flooding her steering compartment so that she had to be steered with her engines . Her speed was decreased , splitting it from the rest of the Russian ships , further exposing her to Japanese fire , and her steering jammed to port . The Russian Admiral Karl Jessen attempted to provide cover for the ship , but was pushed back by the Japanese cruisers . As the Russian ships withdrew , the " Rurik " was set upon by several Japanese cruisers . Rather than surrender the ship to the Japanese , the senior surviving officer , one Lieutenant Ivanov , ordered the ship to be scuttled . The Japanese picked up about 625 survivors , the rest perishing in the engagement . The remaining two Russian cruisers escaped back to Vladivostok . Legacy . Despite her obsolete physical appearance , with the barque rigging and unprotected guns , the " Rurik " performed surprisingly well at Ulsan . The ship was quite possibly responsible for the escape of the other two Russian cruisers , though that can also be attributed to the Japanese indecisiveness at the battle . While the " Rurik " ' s presence was decisive at Ulsan , the Russians subsequently wasted the second chance they had at using the " Rossia " and the " Gromoboi " . The " Rossia " joined the " Bogatyr " with grounding damage and the " Gromoboi " never sortied for the rest of the war . Outside the context of the Russo - Japanese War , the " Rurik " ' s only other influence would be on the Royal Navy . The Royal Navy built the large and expensive " Powerful " - class protected cruisers specifically to deal with what the " Rurik " was rumoured to be : a fast , heavily armed cruiser that would prey off merchant vessels .