Japanese Service As The Aso
After the end of the war, the wreck of the Bayan was raised and towed to Maizuru, Japan, as a prize of war. It was repaired and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as the 2nd class cruiser Aso on 22 August 1905.
Its new name came from Mount Aso, a noted volcano in Kyūshū. It is a tribute to its excellent design that it was able to absorb seven hits on its deck (of which five penetrated) and five hits on the side of its hull from the Japanese 280 mm siege guns (more than any other battleship or cruiser in the Russian squadron), and still could be repaired and brought back into service.
After being placed into service on 30 November 1908, the Aso was assigned to patrol duty off the coast of China. The following year, together with the Soya, the Aso was assigned to a training cruise to North America by way of Hawaii, and in 1910, made a similar long distance navigational training voyage south, to Australia by way of the Philippines.
From 1911-1915, the Aso was based in Yokosuka, patrolling Japanese home waters. However, with the start of World War I, the Aso was assigned longer patrols further south, protecting commercial shipping against raids by the Imperial German Navy, as part of Japan's contribution to the Allied war effort under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
On 1 April 1920, the Aso was re-classified as a minelayer, with a total of 512 naval mines deployed on its upper and middle deck. From 28 August 1922 to 9 September 1922, the Aso was used for coastal patrol and to transport troops during the Siberian Intervention. At the time of the Great Kantō earthquake of September 1923, the Aso was used for disaster relief, and for transport of supplies and refugees.
The Aso was removed from the active list on 1 April 1931 and subsequently sunk as a target by the guns of the Myōkō, torpedoes from Japanese submarine I-89 and bombs from dive bombers sent from Yokosuka on 4 August 1932 offshore from Izu Ōshima island.
Read more about this topic: Russian Cruiser Bayan (1900)
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