Russian cruiser Varyag (1899)

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For other ships of the same name, see Russian cruiser Varyag and Soviet cruiser Varyag.

Career

The Varyag
Laid down:	1898
Launched:	1899
Commissioned:	January 14, 1901
Fate:	Scuttled February 9, 1904, Ran aground 1920, sank 1925
Resting Place:	55°11′03″N, 04°56′30″W
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) (Russian: кре́йсер «Варя́г») 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.

Cruiser Varyag in the Golden Horn Bay of Vladivostok, 1903.

During the Battle of Chemulpo Bay at the start of the Russo-Japanese War, 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. ^[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 later salvaged by the Japanese and repaired. She served with the Imperial Japanese Navy as light cruiser Soya.

For record of the IJN Soya after salvaging by Japan and prior to its return to Russia, see Japanese 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.^[2]

On 8th September 2007 a large bronze memorial was dedicated at Lendalfoot.