RUSSIAN CRUISER VARYAG

The ''Varyag''
'Career'
Laid down:	1898
Launched:	1899
Commissioned:	January 14, 1901
Fate:	Scuttled February 9, 1904, Ran aground 1920, sank 1925
Resting Place:
'Specifications'
Displacement:	6,500 t
Length:	129.6 m (425.2 ft)
Beam:	15.8 m (51.8 ft)
Draft:	6.3 m (20.7 ft)
Armament:	12-6 in (152 mm), 12-75 mm, 6-47 mm, 6 torpedo launchers
Speed:	23 kts
Complement:	570

'''Varyag''' (also spelled 'Variag'; see Varangian for the meaning of the name) () was a Russian protected cruiser that is well-known in the military history of Russia. The Imperial Admiralty contracted William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to build the ship, and her keel was laid in October 1898. Launched on October 31, 1899, she was commissioned into the Imperial Russian Navy on January 2, 1901.

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, ''Varyag'' (under the command of Vsevolod Rudnev) accepted a badly unequal battle with the Japanese squadron of Admiral Uriu (one armoured cruiser, five protected cruisers and eight destroyers) during her heroic breakthrough from Chemulpo (Incheon) harbour February 9, 1904. Having lost 31 men dead, 191 injured (out of 570) and outgunned, the crew decided not to surrender, but to sink the ship. The crew was saved. Port Arthur: Prologue materials of publishing house "Alexander PRINT"
In 1907, Vsevolod Rudnev (by that time dismissed in the rank of rear admiral) was decorated with a Japanese order for that battle; although he accepted the order, he never wore it in public.
The ''Varyag'' was later salvaged by the Japanese and repaired. She served with the Imperial Japanese Navy as light cruiser ''Soya''. During World War I, Russia and Japan were allies and several ships were transferred by the Japanese to the Russians. She was returned to the Imperial Russian Navy at Vladivostok on April 5, 1916 and renamed ''Varyag''. She was sent to Great Britain for an overhaul, and was due to re-enter service with the Arctic squadron of the Russian Navy. However, following the Russian October Revolution on November 7, 1917 she was seized by the British and sold to Germany in 1920 for scrap. That same year, while under tow in the Firth of Clyde, she ran aground on rocks near the Scottish village of Lendalfoot, and was scrapped there. She finally sank in 1925, disappearing forever.
On Sunday July 30, 2006 (Russian Navy Day), a monument to the cruiser was unveiled at Lendalfoot in a ceremony attended by senior Russian politicians and navy personnel, veterans and local dignitaries.Resting place of Russian cruiser ''Varyag'' South Ayrshire Council News

Contents

See also

References

External links

See also

The name was inherited by other Russian ships:

★ The ''Kynda''-class missile cruiser, commissioned in 1965 and retired in 1990.

★ The aircraft carrier ''Varyag'' launched in 1988, suspended in 1992, and sold to China.

★ The ''Slava''-class missile cruiser formerly known as ''Chervona Ukraina'', which is in service with the Russian Navy.

References

External links

★ Complements of "Varyag" & "Koreets" (posts, birth places & dates, posterior fortune)

★ The memory of "Varyag" will be perpetuated in Great Britain

★ Russian News and Information Agency article ''British monument to Russian glory''

★ "Cruiser 'Varyag'" Fund

★ Cruiser "Varyag". Legends. Myths. Facts