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The following watercolor paintings by A. Mironov show some warships of the Imperial Russian Navy from the years 1898-1904. A large part of the
Russian fleet was lost during the Russo-Japanese War and specially in the disastrous Battle of Tsushima, but many were as well the units that survived.
They took part in actions during the First World War and many of them joined the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.
The squadron battleship Oslyabya (14639 tonnes) was the first ship sunk during the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905. She was as well the
first modern armored ship which was sunk by gunfire alone. Her sisters Peresvet and Pobeda took part in the battles of Port Arthur and
the Yellow Sea and had been sunk during the Siege of Port Arthur in December 1904.
The squadron battleship Knyaz Suvorov (14378 tonnes) was the flagship at the Battle of Tsushima. She was lost during the battle along with
her sisters Borodino, Imperator Aleksandr III and Oryol.
The squadron battleship Poltava (11685 tonnes) was transferred to the Pacific Squadron shortly after completion and based at Port Arthur
from 1901. During the Russo-Japanese War she took part on the Battle of Port Arthur and was heavily damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea. She
was eventually sunk during the subsequent Siege of Port Arthur, but was raised by the Japanese after the war.
The coastal battleship Admiral Ushakov (5051 tonnes) was lost during the Battle of Tsushima after receiving three hits, two below the
waterline and one above which set ablaze the ship. Her two sisters Admiral Seniavin and General Admiral Graf Apraksin were taken as war prizes after
surrendering, but the Admiral Ushakov refused such fate and was scuttled by her crew instead.
The first-rate cruiser Bogatyr (6752 tonnes) struck a rock on May 1904 and because of the severe damage she could not be adequately repaired for
the remainder of the war, remaining docked at Vladivostok.
The first-rate cruiser Aurora (6731 tonnes) survived the Battle of Tsushima and was interned in the Philippines under United States protection.
She returned to the Baltic Fleet after the war. Onboard her took place one of the first incidents of the Bolshevik Revolution and because of this she is
preserved as a museum ship in Saint Petersburg.
The first-rate cruiser Varyag (6604 tonnes) was scuttled by her own crew after the Battle of Chemulpo Bay in February 1904. She was later
salvaged and repaired by the Japanese to be integrated into the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The first-rate cruiser Askold (5910 tonnes) was moored within the protected confines of Port Arthur during the homonym battle and hence
took only minor damage. She was flagship of the cruiser squadron during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the failed attempt to escape the Japanese
blockade and to link up with forces in Vladivostok. She and the second-rate cruiser Novik took heavy damage but managed to escape to Shanghai, where
she was interned until the end of the war.
The second-rate cruiser Novik (3129 tonnes) tried to escape from the Japanese cruiser Tsushima after the Battle of the Yellow Sea, but she was
finally trapped in Aniva Bay. The crew scuttled the ship to prevent her capture, but the Japanese, impressed by the exceptional speed of this cruiser,
made a great effort to retrieve her, which was achieved in August 1905 after one year of work.
The torpedo boat/destroyer Burnyi (440 tonnes) resulted stranded and consequently scuttled while returning to Port Arthur after the Battle of
the Yellow Sea. Later five of her sisters were lost during the Battle of Tsushima: four sank and one surrendered to the Japanese.
The minelayer transport Amur (3058 tonnes) was used to lay minefields for the defense of Port Arthur, which caused the sinking of two Japanese
battleships in May 1904. She was sunk in December 1904 during the Siege of Port Arthur after being hit many times by heavy shells. Her sister Yenisei was
lost in February 1904 in a tragic incident when she hit one of the mines that she had just laid.
The workshop transport Kamchatka (7200 tonnes) was one of the several auxiliary ships lost during the Battle of Tsushima.
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