A nation's naval parade is always a solemn event,
especially when it is dedicated to the anniversary of a monarch or ruling party’s reign.
This is a demonstration of the power of marine forces,
featuring the flags of the countries whose ships are participating in this great event.
In 1897, the Imperial Russian Navy
participated in the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of British Queen Victoria’s reign,
with a brand-new armored cruiser Rossia.
The cruiser Rossia joined the Russian Navy as the sixth warship with this name:
previously there were four frigates and a 120-gun battleship.
The new cruiser was developed from ideas used for cruiser Rurik:
it was equipped with more effective armor, advanced water-tube boilers,
a more powerful artillery armament,
and a special cruise engine which provided a higher speed of travel and cruising range.
It is believed that Rossia, and the later Gromoboi,
were developed from the same series of cruisers as Rurik.
They are, however, three different ships.
When designing the new armored cruiser,
the focus was on providing the increased armor protection,
high travel speeds, and a greater cruising range.
The maximum length of cruiser Rossia was almost 148 meters;
the width – more than 20 meters,
and the total displacement – over 12,000 tons.
The armor belt, constructed of “Harvey armor”, which was the strongest armor at the time,
reached 203 mm in width.
The conning tower had walls 305 mm thick.
The Rossia's primary armament was the 4 × 203 mm guns
designed at the Obukhov State Plant,
and installed at the bow, stern, and sides in projected sponsons.
The medium caliber armament included 16 × 152 mm Canet guns,
the majority of which were located in casemates at the gun deck of the ship.
The secondary armament included:
12 × 75 mm Canet guns used against torpedo boats;
20 × 47 mm and 18 × 37 mm guns
designed by the Hotchkiss Company, France.
Additionally, cruiser Rossia was equipped with 5 × 381 mm above-water torpedo tubes—
two at the right and the left sides, and one at the bow of the ship.
During the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, the cruiser underwent multiple retrofits.
Cruiser Rossia was laid down in May 1895 in the presence of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
Less than a year later, in April 1896, the ship was officially launched.
Next summer she left for her first cruise, the very cruise that ended in England, at the naval parade.
In October 1897, Rossia took her course from Kronstadt to the Far East.
The route went from Nagasaki to Port Arthur, then to Vladivostok.
In July 1899, the cruiser enlisted in the Russian Pacific Squadron.
In 1903, the Vladivostok Cruiser Squadron was established.
The core of this squadron was formed by Rossia's sisters,
Gromoboi and Rurik.
Rossia became the flagship of the cruiser squadron and thus saw the Russo-Japanese War.
On January 27, 1904, the Russian squadron was attacked by the Japanese.
Shortly before, the cruisers of the Vladivostok Squadron were painted
in a olive-green combat camouflage
and after news of the attack on the Russian warships in Port Arthur was received,
Rossia, Gromoboi, Rurik, and Bogatyr set out on their first combat campaign.
The primary task of the cruisers was to draw fire from the Japanese fleet, away from Port Arthur.
In the raids between April 1904 and April 1905,
the cruiser squadron headed by Rossia destroyed and captured 15 carrier ships
and multiple smaller ships.
Combat operations conducted by the Russian cruisers made the enemy concentrate
the entire squadron of admiral Kamimura on the Sea of Japan.
So, the primary task of the cruisers was fully accomplished.
The hardest battle for cruiser Rossia, during that war,
was a skirmish with a Japanese armored cruiser squadron,
which took place on August 1st 1904, in the Korea Strait, near Ulsan.
The Japanese outnumbered the Russian cruiser squadron and were superior in terms of armor and armament.
In the course of the epic battle, which lasted five hours,
the battered cruiser Rurik was scuttled by the Russian navy,
while Rossia was heavily damaged and 213 members of her crew were killed and injured.
After being repaired, the ship served in the Far East until the end of the war
protecting Vladivostok from possible Japanese attacks,
and carried out another raid against enemy shipping routes.
After the war, the cruiser returned to the Baltic Sea, underwent repairs,
took part in fleet maneuvers, and conducted a few distance training cruises
for students of petty officer schools to the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean.
By World War I, Rossia became the flagship of the Second Cruiser Brigade
in the Baltic Sea and fulfilled her regular duties:
she participated in campaigns against German fleet shipping routes,
planted mines, conducted reconnaissance operations,
and supported light watercraft of the Baltic Fleet.
In late December 1917, over the course of four days, Rossia, as part of a cruiser squadron,
committed a difficult journey across ice-covered waters from Helsingfors to Kronstadt
where she was placed in reserve.
In 1922, the ship was decommissioned for scrap.
While being towed to a scrapyard in Germany, cruiser Rossia ran aground close to Tallinn,
suggesting was reluctant to retire.
She had a long and celebrated career:
she had been laid down in the presence of the last Emperor of Russia,
introduced to the Queen of Britain, and took part in two wars.