Russian Battleship Peresvet - Russian Career

Russian Career

Peresvet, named after Alexander Peresvet, a monk who fought at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, was laid down on 21 November 1895 by the Baltic Works in Saint Petersburg and launched on 19 May 1898. She was not completed, however, until July 1901 at the cost of 10,540,000 rubles. The ship was sent to Port Arthur in October 1901 where she was assigned to the Pacific Squadron and became the flagship of the squadron's second-in-command, Rear Admiral Prince Pavel Ukhtomsky.

Peresvet was not hit during the Battle of Port Arthur on 9 February 1904, the second day of the Russo-Japanese War. While training outside of Port Arthur on 26 March, Peresvet accidentally collided with the battleship Sevastopol and sustained minor damage. On 15 April, the ship hit the armored cruiser Nisshin once as the latter ship was bombarding Port Arthur. Some of the ship's guns were removed during the summer to reinforce the defenses of the port. Peresvet lost a total of three 6-inch, two 75-millimeter, two 47-millimeter and four 37-millimeter guns. She sailed with the rest of the Pacific Squadron on 23 June in an abortive attempt to reach Vladivostok. The fleet commander, Vice Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft, ordered the squadron to return to Port Arthur when they encountered the Japanese fleet shortly before sunset as he did not wish to engage the numerically superior Japanese in a night battle. Peresvet received 39 hits that killed 13 men and wounded 69 during the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August. A number of the hits were near the waterline and caused flooding; compartments of the double bottom had to be flooded to restore some of her stability. The ship returned to Port Arthur after Vitgeft was killed and Ukhtomsky rallied most of the fleet.

The new commander, Rear Admiral Robert N. Viren, decided to use the men and guns of the Pacific Squadron to reinforce the defenses of Port Arthur and even more guns were stripped from the Squadron's ships. This proved to be to little avail and Japanese troops were able to seize 203 Hill which overlooked the harbor on 5 December. This allowed the Imperial Japanese Army's 28-centimeter (11 in) siege guns to fire directly at the Russian ships and they hit Peresvet many times. The Russians, however, scuttled her in shallow water on 7 December 1904.