''Pamiat Azova'' () was a unique

armoured cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a pre-dreadnought battles ...

built for the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until being dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution and the declaration of ...

in the late 1880s. She was decommissioned from front line service in 1909, converted into a depot ship and sunk by British torpedo boats during the Baltic Naval War, part of the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

Name

The name of the ship commemorated the Russian

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

, the flagship of the Russian squadron in the

Battle of Navarino The Battle of Navarino was a naval battle fought on 20 October (O.S. 8 October) 1827, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829), in Navarino Bay (modern Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. Allied ...

. The name of that ship, in its turn, referred to the

Azov campaigns Azov (, ), previously known as Azak (Turki/Cuman language, Kypchak: ), is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River (Russia), Don River just from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name ...

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

. After the battle

Nicholas I of Russia Nicholas I, group=pron (Russian language, Russian: Николай I Павлович; – ) was Emperor of Russia, List of rulers of Partitioned Poland#Kings of the Kingdom of Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 18 ...

decreed that after the retirement of ''Azov'' the Imperial Navy must perpetually have a ship named ''Pamyat Azova'' (English: ''The Memory of Azov''). The cruiser commissioned in 1890 was the third ship carrying this name.

Design

The ship was designed as a

commerce raider Commerce raiding is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging its combatants or enforcing a blockade against them. Privateering is a fo ...

and rigged with sails to extend her range. She was built by

Baltic Works The OJSC Baltic Shipyard (''Baltiysky Zavod'', formerly Shipyard 189 named after Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze) () is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia and is part of United Shipbuilding Corporation today. It is located in Saint Petersburg in th ...

in Saint Petersburg and launched on 1 July 1888. Her machinery was re-built in 1904 with Bellville boilers.

Service

The ship served with the

Baltic Fleet The Baltic Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. Established 18 May 1703, under Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Baltic Fleet is the oldest Russian fleet. In 1918, the fleet w ...

, and in 1891–1892 it took part in a Cruise around Asia with Crown Prince Nicholas on board. This led to a

Fabergé egg A Fabergé egg () is a jewelled egg first created by the jewellery firm House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As many as 69 Czarist Russia Era eggs were created, of which 61 are currently known to have survived. Virtually all of the ...

, the Memory of Azov being made to commemorate this event. She made a visit to the French Navy in October 1893 in Toulon to reinforce the

Franco-Russian Alliance The Franco-Russian Alliance (, ), also known as the Dual Entente or Russo-French Rapprochement (''Rapprochement Franco-Russe'', Русско-Французское Сближение; ''Russko-Frantsuzskoye Sblizheniye''), was an alliance formed ...

.''

L'Illustration ''L'Illustration'' (; 1843–1944) was a French language, French illustrated weekly newspaper published in Paris. It was founded by Édouard Charton with the first issue published on 4 March 1843, it became the first illustrated newspaper in ...

'', n° 2642, Oct. 14, 1893 In 1906, during the First Russian Revolution, the crew of the cruiser mutinied while at

Hara Bay Hara Bay () is a bay in Harju County, Estonia. The bay is located between Juminda and Pärispea Peninsula. The bay's area is 9859 ha. A part of Hara Bay is under protection (Lahemaa National Park). Two rivers flows into the bay: Valgejõgi V ...

near

Reval Tallinn is the capital and most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and administratively lies in the Harju ''maakond'' (co ...

. The ship subsequently was placed in reserve. In 1909 she was converted into a torpedo boat depot ship and renamed ''Dvina''. The ship was sunk by the British

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

CMB79 in

Kronstadt Kronstadt (, ) is a Russian administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg, near the head ...

Harbour on 18 August 1919. The wreck was raised and scrapped.

Notes

References

External links

battleships-cruisers.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pamiat Azova Cruisers of the Imperial Russian Navy Ships built at the Baltic Shipyard 1888 ships Naval ships of Russia World War I naval ships of Russia Maritime incidents in 1919