Poltava Class Battleship (1894)

The Poltava Class were pre-Dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy. All three ships fought and were lost in the Russo-Japanese war. Two ships were destroyed and one was captured by the Japanese.

Ships

• Petropavlovsk (Петропавловск) - named after the battle of Petropavlovsk in the Crimean War, laid down at Galerniy Yard, St. Petersburg, in May 1892, launched in November, 1894 and commissioned in 1897. She was transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1901 and was the flagship of Admiral Stepan Makarov. She was sunk by a Japanese mine on 31 March, 1904. Admiral Makarov and his guest, Russian battle artist Vasily Vereshchagin were lost with the ship.

• Poltava (Полтава) - named after the battle of Poltava, built by the New Admiralty Yard in St. Petersburg, laid down in May, 1892, launched in November 1894. She was commissioned in 1897 and was based at Port Arthur. The ship fought in the Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1904, but failed to escape and was sunk during the Siege of Port Arthur. She was subsequently raised and repaired by the Japanese and served in the Imperial Japanese Navy as the Tango (丹後). During the First World War, she was returned to Japan's Russian allies in 1916, renamed the Chesma (Чесма) (after the Battle of Chesma), and transferred to the Arctic. She was captured by the British in Murmansk during the Allied invasion of northern Russia during the Russian Civil War, but damaged beyond repair. The wreck was scrapped in 1923.

• Sevastopol (Севастополь) - named after the city of Sevastopol, built by Galerniy Yard, St. Petersburg, laid down in 1892, launched in June, 1895. She was commissioned in 1897 and was based at Port Arthur. The ship fought in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, but failed to escape and was scuttled during the Siege of Port Arthur. She was too badly damaged and sunk too deep to be economically salvaged by the Japanese.