Russian battleship Rostislav

Rostislav between 1907 and 1916.
History
Russian Empire
Name:	Rostislav (Russian: Ростислав)
Namesake:	Rostislav I of Kiev
Operator:	Imperial Russian Navy
Builder:	Nikolayev Admiralty Shipyard
Laid down:	January 30, 1894 (actual) May 19, 1895 (formal)
Launched:	September 2, 1896
Christened:	May 20, 1894
Completed:	March 1900
Fate:	Scuttled in the Strait of Kerch, November 1920
General characteristics
Type:	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	8,880 long tons (9,020 t) (designed) 10,520 long tons (10,689 t) (actual)
Length:	351 ft 10 in (107.2 m)
Beam:	68 ft (20.7 m)
Draft:	22 ft (6.7 m) (designed) 25 ft 2 in (7.7 m) (actual)
Installed power:	8,500 ihp (6,300 kW) 8 fire-tube boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Range:	4,100 nautical miles (7,600 km; 4,700 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Complement:	633 (1900), 831–852 (World War I)
Armament:	2 × 2 – 10-inch (254 mm) guns 4 × 2 – 6-inch (152 mm) guns 12 × 1 – 47-millimetre (1.9 in) guns 16 × 1 – 37-millimetre (1.5 in) guns 6 × 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Harvey armor Belt: 14.5 in (368 mm) Deck: 2–3 in (51–76 mm) Turrets: 10 in (254 mm) Conning tower: 6 in (152 mm) Bulkheads: 5–9 in (127–229 mm)

Coordinates: 45°25′01″N 36°37′43″E / 45.41694°N 36.62861°E / 45.41694; 36.62861

Rostislav was a pre-dreadnought battleship built by the Nikolaev Admiralty Shipyard in the 1890s for the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was conceived as a small, inexpensive coastal defence ship, but the Navy abandoned the concept in favor of a compact, seagoing battleship with a displacement of 8,880 long tons (9,020 t). Poor design and construction practices increased her actual displacement by more than 1,600 long tons (1,600 t). Rostislav became the world's first capital ship to burn fuel oil, rather than coal. Her combat ability was compromised by the use of 10-inch (254 mm) main guns instead of the de facto Russian standard of 12 inches (305 mm).

Her hull was launched in September 1896, but non-delivery of the ship's main guns delayed her maiden voyage until 1899 and her completion until 1900. In May 1899 Rostislav became the first ship of the Imperial Navy to be commanded by a member of the House of Romanov, Captain Alexander Mikhailovich. From 1903 to 1912 the ship was the flagship of the second-in-command of the Black Sea Fleet. During the 1905 Russian Revolution her crew was on the verge of mutiny, but ultimately remained loyal to the regime, and actively suppressed the mutiny of the cruiser Ochakov.