|
''Varyag'' damaged, after the battle of Incheon |
|
|---|
| Laid down: | 1898 |
| Launched: | 1899 |
| Commissioned: | January 14 , 1901 |
| Fate: | Scuttled February 9 , 1904 |
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|---|
| Displacement: | 6,500 t |
| Length: | 129.6 m (– ft) |
| Beam: | 15.8 m (– ft) |
| Draft: | 6.3 m (– ft) |
| Armament: | 12-6 in (152 mm), 12-75 mm, 6-47 mm, 6 torpedo launchers
|
| Speed: | 23 Kts |
| Complement: | 570 |
Cruiser (also spelled '''Variag'''; see
Varangian for the meaning of the name) () was a Russian
Protected Cruiser gone down to the military history of
Russia . The Imperial Admiralty contracted
William Cramp And Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to build the ship and her keel was laid in October of
1898 . Launched on
October 31 ,
1899 , she was commissioned into the
Imperial Russian Navy on
January 2 ,
1901 .
of
Vladivostok , 1903]]
During the
Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, ''Varyag'' accepted a badly uneven battle with the Japanese squadron of Admiral Uriu (one armoured crusier, five protected cruisers and eight destroyers) during her heroic breakthrough from Chemulpo (
Incheon ) harbour
February 9 ,
1904 . Having lost 32 men dead, 90 injured (out of 570) and outgunned, the crew decided not to surrender, but to sink the ship. The crew was saved.
The Varyag was raised by the Japanese and repaired. She served with the
Imperial Japanese Navy as light cruiser ''Soya''. During
World War I Russia and Japan were allies and several ships were transferred by the Japanese to the Russians. She was returned to the
Imperial Russian Navy at
Vladivostok on
April 5 ,
1916 and renamed ''Varyag''. She was due to serve with the Arctic squadron of the Russian Navy but was seized en route by the British as a result of the Russian
October Revolution on
December 8 ,
1917 . She then served as a hulk and was scrapped in
1923 .
The name was inherited by some other Russian ships:
