Peresvet Class Battleship - Careers

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Peresvet, named after Alexander Peresvet, a Russian monk who fought at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, and Pobeda (Victory) were sent to the Far East almost immediately after entering service in 1901 and 1903 respectively. Peresvet became flagship of the squadron's second-in-command, Rear Admiral Prince Pavel Ukhtomsky, upon her arrival. During the Battle of Port Arthur on the second day of the war, Peresvet was not hit, but Pobeda was hit once amidships, losing two men killed and four wounded, but little damage was done. The latter struck a mine during the squadron's sortie on 13 April and she was under repair for almost two months. Both ships had some of their anti-torpedo boat guns and secondary armament removed during the summer to bolster the defenses of the port. Both ships participated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August; Pobeda was only lightly damaged by eleven large-caliber hits, but Peresvet was hit 39 times and suffered a considerable amount of flooding. More guns were landed after the squadron's return to Port Arthur, but the Imperial Japanese Army captured the hills overlooking the harbor in November and they allowed the Army's 28-centimeter (11 in) siege guns to fire directly at the Russian ships. Pobeda and Peresvet were hit many times and Pobeda sank on 7 December 1904 from the accumulated damage. Peresvet, however, was scuttled in shallow water on that same day.

Construction of Oslyabya, named after Radion Oslyabya, another monk who fought at the Battle of Kulikovo, was greatly delayed, and the ship was en route to the Far East when the Russo-Japanese War began in February 1904. She was ordered home and assigned to the Second Pacific Squadron that was intended to relieve the forces in Port Arthur. The ship served as the flagship of Rear Admiral Baron Dmitry von Fölkersam, second-in-command of the Squadron, but he died two days before the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905. Oslyabya led the Second Division of the squadron during the battle and was the target of numerous Japanese ships during the early part of the battle. A number of the many hits received by the ship were along the waterline and caused extensive flooding. Efforts to counteract the resulting list destroyed her remaining stability and she sank just over an hour after the Japanese opened fire, the first modern battleship to be sunk solely by gunfire. Sources differ on the exact number of casualties, but the lowest figure given is 471.

Peresvet and Pobeda were raised, repaired, and rearmed by the Japanese and incorporated into the Imperial Japanese Navy as Sagami and Suwo, respectively, reclassified as 1st-class coastal defense ships. After the beginning of World War I, Sagami was sold to Russia in March 1916 and arrived in Vladivostok on 3 April 1916, where she resumed her former name of Peresvet. The ship was intended to serve with the Russian Arctic flotilla and was en route to the Arctic when she struck two mines off Port Said, Egypt on 4 January 1917. The mines had been laid by the submarine SM U-73 and Peresvet sank with the loss of 167 lives after catching fire.

During World War I, Suwo served as the flagship for the Japanese squadron during the Battle of Tsingtao from 27 August to 7 November 1914. The ship served as flagship of the Second Squadron of the Second Fleet in 1915–16 before becoming a gunnery training ship for the rest of the war. In April 1922, in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty, Suwo was disarmed at the Kure Naval Arsenal. While her armor was being removed, the ship capsized on 13 July. Sources differ as to her ultimate fate; she was either refloated and hulked, serving until broken up at Kure in 1946, or she was scrapped immediately afterward.