Russian cruiser Bayan

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Career

Built by:	Compagnie des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée à la Seine, France
Laid down	1899
Launched:	May 1900
Commissioned:	December 1902
Fate:	Prize of war to Japan, 1905. Subsequently served as Japanese cruiser Aso, decommissioned 1920 expended as target 1930.
General characteristics
Displacement:	7,800 tons
Length:	449 feet
Beam:	57.5 feet
Draught:	22 feet
Propulsion:	2 shafts, vertical triple expansion steam engines, 26 Belleville coal-fired boilers, 16,500 hp
Speed:	21 knots
Range:	3900 nautical miles @ 10 knots
Complement:	573
Armament:	2 x 8 inch guns 8 x 6 inch guns 20 x 75 mm guns 2 x 18 inch torpedoes
Armor:	Harvey armor, Belt: 200 mm; turret: 150 mm deck: 30 mm barbette: 170 mm casemates: 60 mm

The cruiser Bayan was the lead ship in the Bayan class of armored cruisers in the Imperial Russian Navy. It was built in Toulon, France by the Compagnie des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée à la Seine. The name Bayan means “Bard” or “storyteller” in Russian.

[edit] Operational history

The Bayan, one of the most modern ships in the Imperial Russian Navy, was assigned to serve in the Port Arthur squadron of the Russian Pacific Fleet, partly in response to the acquisition of the Asama-class armored cruisers by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

At the outbreak of hostilities between Japan and Russia, the Bayan was moored at the Russian naval port of Port Arthur, and suffered numerous hits during the initial Japanese attack on the night of 8 February 1904. It was consequently trapped in the harbor along with the rest of the Russian fleet during the subsequent Siege of Port Arthur.

The damage to the Bayan was not serious enough to prevent her from participating as flagship in the sortie by Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov out of Port Arthur on 10 March 1904, together with the cruiser Novik, to support Russian destroyers under attack by the Japanese destroyers.

For the next month Bayan was involved in a number of sorties by the First Pacific Squadron, including Admiral Makarov's ill-fated final sortie of 12 April 1904. The Bayan was only two kilometers from Port Arthur when the Admiral's flagship Petropavlovsk struck a mine and sank. The Bayan assisted with rescue of the survivors, which did not include the Admiral.

The Bayan participated in additional sorties on 23 June 1904 and 24 July 1904. While returning from this last sortie and flying the flag of Rear Admiral Reitzenstein, the Bayan struck a mine but made it back to Port Arthur. She was still under repair on 10 August 1904 when the Port Arthur squadron under Rear Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft attempted to run the Japanese blockade for Vladivostok and engaged the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Yellow Sea.

After the death of Admiral Vitgelf, Robert Wiren (1856-1917), the captain of the Bayan was appointed commander of the Port Arthur Squadron. However, despite Wiren's admirable combat record, he showed no inclination to leave port to engage the Japanese, using the excuse that he needed to preserve his ships to reinforce the Russian Baltic Fleet, already on its way to relieve the siege. His excuse may have had some validity, had he not backed it up by removing almost all of the guns from his remaining ships to reinforce the shore batteries, and re-assigning most of his sailors to land duty as infantry.

The Japanese Army continued to tighten the stranglehold on Port Arthur. By November 1904 the Japanese had positioned eighteen 11 inch (280mm) siege mortars (12,242 yard range, 480 lb shells), into place to bombard the Russian ships in the port. By December, all of the warships of the First Pacific Squadron that had not already been sunk were scuttled by their crews to prevent capture, by exploding six to eight torpedo warheads around the hull of each surviving ship. Bayan took more hits from the Japanese guns (12) than any battleship or cruiser in the squadron. She suffered seven hits on the deck, of which five penetrated and five hits on the side of the hull.

After the end of the war, the wreck of the Bayan was raised and towed to Japan, where it was repaired and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as a prize of war. Renamed the IJN Aso, it was decommissioned in 1920 and sunk as target in 1930.

For record of the RUS Bayan after to being captured by Japan, see Japanese cruiser Aso.

A second ship in the Bayan class was named Bayan in honor of its predecessor. Commissioned in 1911, it served in World War I and was scrapped in Germany in 1922.