Russian cruiser Varyag
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 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 (– ft) |
| Beam: | 15.8 m (– ft) |
| Draft: | 6.3 m (– ft) |
| Armament: | 12-6 in (152 mm), 12-75 mm, 6-47 mm, 6 torpedo launchers |
| Speed: | 23 kts |
| Complement: | 570 |
Cruiser Varyag (also spelled Variag; see Varangian for the meaning of the name) (Russian: кре́йсер «Варя́г») was a Russian protected cruiser gone down to 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 of 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 uneven 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 82 men dead, 190 injured (out of 570) and outgunned, the crew decided not to surrender, but to sink the ship. The crew was saved. [1]
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 raised 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 overhaul, and was due to re-enter service with the Arctic squadron of the Russian Navy. However, following the Russian October Revolution on December 8, 1917 she was seized by the British and sold to Germany in 1920 for scrap. In the same year, while under tow in the Firth of Clyde, she ran aground on rocks near the Scottish village of Lendalfoot, and was scraped 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.[2]
[edit] Memory
The name was inherited by some 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.
- Krejser Varyag (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- The famous Russian song "Kreyser Varyag" glorifies the event
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
[edit] References
- ^ Resting place of Russian cruiser Varyag South Ayrshire Council News
[edit] External links
