Imperator Aleksandr II Class Battleship - History

History

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 suffered little damage. Joining the Mediterranean Squadron in August 1896, she supported Russian interests during the Cretan Revolt of 1897. Imperator Aleksandr II returned to Kronstadt in September 1901. She was reboilered in December 1903 and modified 1904–05 to serve as an artillery school ship with her secondary armament replaced by more modern guns. 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. During World War I, she was mainly based in Kronstadt where her crew was active in the revolutionary movement. She was renamed Zarya Svobody (Russian: Заря Свободы: Dawn of Freedom) in May 1917. Turned over to the Kronstadt port authority on 21 April 1921, Imperator Aleksandr II 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.

According to Robert Gardiner in Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905, Imperator Aleksandr II was reconstructed in France between 1902 and 1904, with her torpedo tubes removed and her six and nine-inch guns exchanged for five 8-inch (200 mm) 45-caliber guns and eight six-inch 45-caliber guns. Her revolver cannon were also exchanged for ten three-pounder guns. V.V. Arbazov in Bronenoset︠s︡ Imperator Aleksandr II confirms that the torpedo tubes were removed and claims that she had her nine-inch guns replaced by five 8-inch, the fifth being placed at the stern, her old six-inch guns were exchanged for newer, more powerful models, and four 47 mm and four 120 mm guns were added on the upper deck, presumably replacing the old revolver cannon. However, this happened in Russia, not France.

Imperator Nikolai I sailed in June 1892 for New York City to participate in the celebration honoring the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. She was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron upon her return and visited Toulon in October 1893. Sailing for the Pacific Ocean during the First Sino-Japanese War and arrived at Nagasaki, Japan on 28 April 1895, she remained in the Pacific until late 1896, when she returned to the Mediterranean Squadron and supported Russian interests during the Cretan Revolt. After returning to the Baltic in April 1898, Imperator Nikolai I was extensively refitted in 1899–1901 and received new engines and boilers. She returned to the Mediterranean in September 1901 and remained there for the next three years. Refitted in late 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War, she served as the flagship of the Third Pacific Squadron under Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov and departed Liepāja on 15 January 1905 for the Pacific. She was slightly damaged during the Battle of Tsushima, receiving one hit from a 12-inch gun, two from eight-inch guns and two from six-inch guns, and suffered only 5 killed and 35 men wounded. She was surrendered, along with most of the Third Pacific Squadron, by Admiral Nebogatov the following day and was taken into the Imperial Japanese Navy as the Iki. After serving as a gunnery training ship until 1910, Imperator Nikolai I became a first-class coast defense ship and a training vessel. She was stricken on 1 May 1915 and sunk as a target by the battlecruisers Kongō and Hiei, although Watts and Gordon in The Imperial Japanese Navy claim that she was scrapped in 1922.