Pre-Dreadnought Battleships: Petropavlovsk Class

[Brian James]

Petropavlovsk Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship Poltava pictured fitting out at New Admiralty Shipyards, St Petersburg in 1894. She was transferred to the Pacific Squadron shortly after completion and based at Port Arthur from 1901. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, she participated in the Battle of Port Arthur and was heavily damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea. She was sunk by Japanese artillery during the subsequent siege of Port Arthur in December 1904, but was raised by the Imperial Japanese Navy after the war and renamed Tango.