Russian battleship Sissoi Veliky

Postcard of Sissoi Veliky at anchor
Class overview
Operators:	Imperial Russian Navy
Preceded by:	Tri Sviatitelia
Succeeded by:	Petropavlovsk class
Built:	1891–1896
In service:	1896–1905
Completed:	1
Lost:	1
History
Russian Empire
Name:	Sissoi Veliky
Namesake:	St. Sisoes the Great of Egypt
Builder:	New Admiralty Shipyard, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Laid down:	August 7 [O.S. July 25], 1891
Launched:	June 2 [O.S. May 20], 1894
Completed:	September 1896
Commissioned:	October 18 [O.S. October 5], 1896
Fate:	Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima, May 28 [O.S. May 15] 1905
General characteristics
Type:	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	10,400 long tons (10,567 t)
Length:	107.23 m (351 ft 10 in)
Beam:	20.73 m (68 ft 0 in)
Draught:	7.77 m (25 ft 6 in)
Installed power:	8,500 ihp (6,300 kW) 12 Belleville boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts 2 vertical triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	15.7 knots (29.1 km/h; 18.1 mph)
Range:	2,800 nmi (5,200 km; 3,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	586
Armament:	2 × twin 305 mm (12 in) guns 6 × single 152 mm (6 in) guns 12 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 18 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 6 × 457 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Waterline belt: 6–14 in (152–356 mm) Barbettes: 10 in (254 mm) Gun turrets: 12 in (305 mm) Casemates: 5 in (127 mm) Deck: 2.5–3 in (64–76 mm) Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm) Bulkheads: 6–9 in (152–229 mm)

Sissoi Veliky (Russian: Сисой Великий) was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1890s. The ship's construction was marred by organizational, logistical and engineering problems and dragged on for more than five years. She was commissioned in October 1896 with an appalling number of design and construction faults, and only a few of them were fixed during her lifetime. Immediately after sea trials, Sissoi Veliky sailed to the Mediterranean to enforce the naval blockade of Crete during the Greco-Turkish War. On March 15 [O.S. March 3], 1897 she suffered a devastating explosion of the aft gun turret that killed 21 men. After nine months in the docks of Toulon for repairs, the ship sailed to the Far East to reinforce the Russian presence there. In the summer of 1900, Sissoi Veliky supported the international campaign against the Boxer Rebellion in China. Sailors from Sissoi Veliky and the battleship Navarin participated in the defence of the International Legations in Beijing for more than two months.

In 1902 the ship returned to Kronstadt for repairs, but very little was achieved until the early losses of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 caused the formation of the Second Pacific Squadron to relieve the Russian forces blockaded in Port Arthur. Sissoi Veliky sailed for the Far East with the rest of the Baltic battleships and participated in the Battle of Tsushima on May 27 [O.S. May 14] 1905. She survived the daytime artillery duel with Admiral Heihachirō Tōgō's ships, but was badly damaged and taking on water. During the night Japanese destroyers scored a torpedo hit on the ship that damaged her steering. The next morning the ship was unable to maintain speed because of flooding, and her crew surrendered to Japanese armed merchant cruisers. The ship capsized later that morning with the loss of 47 crewmen.