Russian and Soviet Navy Battleships

Class	Name	Keel Laid	Launched	Commissioned	Builder	De- commissioned	Fate
Pre-Dreadnoughts
Imperator Alexander II	Imperator Alexander II (later Saria Svobodi)	Nov 1885	26 Jul 1887	1891	Admiralty	-	Stricken 1925.(Scrapped?)
	Imperator Nikolai I (later Japanese Iki)		27 Oct 1889	1893	Admiralty	-	Surrendered to Japan 28 May 1905. Sunk as target October 1915 by Kongo and Hiei.
Gangut	Gangut	1889	Oct 1890	1893	Admiralty	-	Sank 1897
Navarin	Navarin	1889	20 Oct 1891		Galerni		War loss: Sunk at Tsushima, 28 May 1905
Sissoi Veliki	Sissoi Veliki	May 1892	Jun 1894	1897	Admiralty	-	War loss: Scuttled after Battle of Tsushima, 28 May 1905
Admiral Ushakov	Admiral Ushakov	Jun 1892	Nov 1893			-	War loss: Sunk at Tsushima, May 1905
	Admiral Senyavin (later Japanese Mishima)		22 Aug 1894	1895	Admiralty	-	Surrendered to Japan 28 May 1905. Sunk as target 1936.
	Admiral Apraxin (later Japanese Okinoshima)		12 May 1896		Baltic	-	Surrendered to Japan 28 May 1905. Scrapped 1939
Poltava	Poltava (later Japanese Tango, later Russian Tchesma)	May 1892	6 Nov 1894		Admiralty	-	Sunk at Port Arthur, Dec 1904, captured by Japanese forces 2 Jan 1905. Returned to Russia 1916(?) Scrapped 1923
	Petropavlovsk					-
	Sevastopol					-
Dvienadst Apostlov	Dvienadst Apostlov	Feb 1888	Sept 1890	1892	Nikolayev	-
Peresviet	Peresviet (later Japanese Sagami)	21 Nov 1895	19 May 1898		Admiralty	-	Sunk 6 Dec 1904 at Port Arthur. Captured 2 Jan 1905. Returned to Russia Mar 1916. War Loss: Sunk 4 Jan 1917, by German mine.
	Osliabia				Admiralty	-	War loss: Sunk at Tsushima, May 1905
	Pobieda (later Japanese Suwo)				Baltic	-	Sunk at Port Arthur, 5 Dec 1904. Raised by Japan, as Suwo. Scrapped 1922.
Potemkin	Kniaz Potemkin Tavricheski later Pantlimon, later Boretz za Svobudu	Feb 1898	Oct 1900		Nikolayev		Scrapped 1922
Retvizan	Retvizan (later Japanese Hizen)	May 1898	23 Oct 1900		Cramp	20 Sep 1923	Sunk at Port Arthur Dec 1904. Captured by Japan, 2 Jan 1905, Sunk as target, July 1924.
Tessarevitch	Tessarevitch	Jun 1899	1901	?	LaSeyne		Scrapped 1924
Borodino	Borodino	?	Aug 1903		Admiralty		War Loss: Sunk at Tsushima 27 May 1905.
	Slava	?	Aug 1903				War Loss: scuttled after being damaged by gunfire from German battleships Kronprinz and König at the Battle of Moon Island, 17 Oct 1917.
	Orel (later Japanese Iwami)	?	19 Jul 1902	Sep 1904	Franco-Russian		Surrendered to Japan 28 May 1905. Sunk as a target July 1924
	Imperator Alexander III	?	?	?	Franco-Russian		War Loss: Sunk at Tsushima 27 May 1905.
Evstafi	Evstafi	?	Nov 1906		Nikolayev	-	Machinery destroyed 25 Apr 1919, scrapped 1922
	Ioann Zlatoust	?	May 1906		Sevastopol	-	Machinery destroyed 25 Apr 1919, scrapped 1922
Andrei Pervozvanni	Andrei Pervozvanni	28 Apr 1903	20 Oct 1906	Sep 1910	Galerni	-	Sunk by British torpedo boats, August 1919, scrapped 1925.
	Imperator Pavel I (later Republika)	15 Apr 1904	7 Sep 1907	Oct 1910	Baltic	-	Scrapped 1923
Dreadnoughts
Gangut	Gangut (later Oktyabrskaya Revolutsia)	16 Jun 1909	18 Feb 1915	18 Mar 1916	Admiralty	-	Scrapped 1956-1959
	Petropavlovsk (later Marat)	16 Jun 1909	30 Oct 1915	19 Oct 1916	Baltic	-	Bow blown off Sept. 1941, used as floating battery after that. Scrapped 1952-53
	Poltava (later Frunze)	16 Jun 1909	21 Nov 1916	-	Admiralty	-	Damaged by fire 1922, cannibalized for spare parts after that. Scrapped 1939
	Sevastopol (later Parizhkaya Kommuna)	16 Jun 1909	20 Jun 1917	-	Baltic	-	Scrapped 1956-1959
Imperitricia Maria	Imperitricia Maria	14 Jul 1912	1 Nov 1913	10 Sep 1915	Russud	-	Exploded and sank 20 October 1916
	Imperator Alexander III (later German Wolga, later White Russian General Alexeiev)	14 Jul 1912	15 Apr 1914	28 Oct 1917	Russud	-	Scrapped 1936
	Yekaterina II (later Svbodnaya Rossia)	14 Jul 1912	1 Nov 1913	10 Sep 1915	Russud	-	Sunk by Bolshevik destroyer Kerch April 1917
	Imperator Nikolai I	14 Jul 1912	15 Apr 1914	-	Russud	-	Scrapped 1923
Ship X	"Ship X"	-	-	-	-	-
Sovietsky Soyuz (Project 23)	Sovietsky Soyuz	15 Jul 1938	16 Jul 1949	-	-	-	Scrapped incomplete
	Sovietskaya Ukrania	31 Oct 1938	-	-	61 Kommunna, Nikolaev		Captured in the shipyard by German forces, Jul 1941, damaged by retreating German forces 1944. Scrapped incomplete 1946
	Sovietskaya Rossiya	-	-	-	Molotovsk	-
	Sovietskaya Belorossia	-	-	-	Molotovsk	-
Improved Sovietsky Soyuz (Project 24)	unnamed	-	-	-	-	-
Royal Oak	Arkhangelsk (formerly Royal Sovereign)	15 Jan 1914	29 Apr 1915	1943	Portsmouth		Returned to UK 1949, scrapped.
Conte di Cavour	Novorossisk (formerly Giulio Cesare	24 Jun 1910	15 Oct 1911	3 Feb 1949	Ansaldo		Awarded to USSR at the end of WWII. Sunk 29 Oct 1955 at Sevastopol. Mine??
Battlecruisers
Izmail	Izmail	19 Dec 1912	22 Jun 1915	-	Baltic Works		Work suspended 65% complete October 1917. Scrapped 1932
	Kinburn	19 Dec 1912	30 Oct 1915	-	Baltic Works		Work suspended 57% complete October 1917. Scrapped 1923
	Borodino	19 Dec 1912	31 Jul 1915	-	Admiralty Works		Work suspended 52% complete October 1917. Scrapped 1923
	Navarin	19 Dec 1912	9 Nov 1916	-	Admiralty Works		Work suspended 22% complete October 1917. Scrapped 1923
Kronstadt (Project 69 & 69-I)	Kronstadt	-	-	-	Leningrad 194
	Sevastopol	-	-	-	Nikolayev 200
Stalingrad (Project 82)	Stalingrad	25 Nov 1949	16 Mar 1954	-	Leningrad
	Moskva	-	-	-	Leningrad
	Arkhangelsk	-	-	-	Leningrad
Kirov (Project 1144)	Kirov (later Usahkov)	26 Mar 1974	27 Dec 1977	30 Dec 1980	Leningrad		Presently inactive. Reported to have had major propulsion system accident c. 1990.
	Kalinin (later Admiral Nakhimov)	26 Jul 1978	26 May 1981	31 Oct 1984	Leningrad
	Frunze (later Admiral Lazarev)	May 1983	26 Apr 1986	30 Dec 1988	Leningrad
	Petr Velikiy (formerly Yuri Andropov)	24 Apr 1986	29 Apr 1989	1996	Leningrad

Key to builders:
Galerni	Galerni Island, St. Petersburg, (Russia)
Lenningrad	Bal'tiyske Ob'yedineniye, St. Petersburg, (Russia)
61 Kommuna	61 Kommunara SY 445, Nikolayev, (Ukraine)
Nosenko	Nosenko SY 444, Nikolayev, Ukraine.

Russian and Soviet Dreadnoughts
Russian and Soviet battleships were often influenced by Italian designs. The first Italian dreadnought, Dante Aligheri was the basis for the Gangut class, and thus the Imperitricia Maria and Izmail classes as well. Later on, the Sovietsky Soyuz class was based on a set of plans by Cantieri Ansaldo of Genoa known as the UP-41 design. The UP-41 design was derived from the Littorio class. "Ship X" was designed by the American firm Gibbs and Cox.

Russian and Soviet Battlecruisers
The Izmail class were derived from the Italian-influenced Gangut and Imperitricia Maria classes. There is a strong family resemblance.

The Project 69 battlecruisers were a pure Soviet design, related to their contemporary cruiser projects. The Project 82 battlecruisers were an evolution of this design.

The Kirov class (Project 1144) battlecruisers are another pure Soviet design, and they differ substantially from earlier gun-armed designs. Their primary armament is a large array of heavy anti-ship missiles. They also have a large compliment of anti-aircraft missiles. Despite these radical differences, their size and speed still puts them in the general category of battlecruisers.

Soviet name prefixes
We've occasionally seen the prefix "USSRS" for Soviet era ships, but not in official publications. Nothing official that we've seen suggests the use of any prefix.

Russian/Soviet Battleship Chronology

Feb 1904-1905: Russo-Japanese War. A major defeat for Russia.
Oct 1904-May 1905: Baltic Fleet travels to the Far East.
5 Dec 1904: Port Arthur: Pacific fleet defeated
27-28 May 1905: Battle of Tsushima: Russian Baltic fleet defeated as it arrives.
1905: Treaty of Portsmouth

August 1914-20 Dec 1917: World War I. Defeat for Russia.
8 March 1917: First Russian Revolution. Czar Nicholas II overthrown, republic established.
17 October 1917: Battle of Moon Island. German dreadnoughts Kronprinz and König defeat Russian pre-dreadnoughts Tsessarevitch and Slava. Slava was scuttled, Tsessarevitch escaped.
November 1917: Second Russian Revolution. Lenin established USSR.
20 December 1917: Russia negotiates treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany and Austria Hungary, effectively ending Russia's participation in World War I.
3 March 1918: Russia ratifies treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

1918-1920: Russian Civil War

Jun 1941-May 1945: World War II. Victory for USSR, though primarily through ground action, not sea power.

5 Mar 1953: Stalin dies. Stalingrad class cancelled.

Dec 1980: Missile armed, nuclear powered battlecruiser Kirov enters service. She is the first battlecruiser built by any nation since World War II.

31 Dec 1991: USSR collapses
1992: Kirov class battlecruisers renamed

Russian/Soviet Battleship Links

Copyright ©2000 Lawrence H. Wells and David R. Wells. All rights reserved.