The Imperator Alexandr III (Russian: Император Александр III) was a of the Russian Imperial Navy, the first ship of its class to be completed. It was named after Tsar Alexander III. Some naval architects regard the Borodino-class as being among the worst battleships ever built (Preston 2002). The design was based on the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 built battleship , which was constructed with a tumblehome

Tumblehome

In ship designing, the tumblehome is the narrowing of a ship's hull with greater distance above the water-line. Expressed more technically, it is present when the beam at the uppermost deck is less than the maximum beam of the vessel....

 hull. The tumblehome design resulted in a high centre of gravity, which was magnified

Magnified

-Personnel:*Ken Andrews – vocals, guitar, bass*Greg Edwards – bass guitar, guitar, drums*John Dargahi - drums...

 by overloading.

Service

Imperator Alexandr III was part of the Russian Second Pacific Squadron, which was sent as a relief force for the embattled fleet at Port Arthur and fought the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Tsushima

Battle of Tsushima

The Battle of Tsushima , commonly known as the “Sea of Japan Naval Battle” in Japan and the “Battle of Tsushima Strait”, was the major naval battle fought between Russia and Japan during the Russo-Japanese War...

 on 27 May 1905. When the Russian flagship at Tsushima, Suvorov

Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov

The Knyaz Suvorov was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Russian Imperial Navy, built by Baltic Works, St Petersburg. Laid down in July 1901, she was launched in September 1902 and completed in September 1904. This ship was named after the 18th-century Russian general Alexander Suvorov. Her...

was temporarily disabled, Alexander III turned to port and withstood concentrated fire from 3000 yards (2,743.2 m). Turning southeast, she led the Russian line, until she was forced to stop to make repairs and put out fires caused by the bombardment. By 6:00 PM her fires were out and she rejoined the fight, although she was soon again again shelled at 7000 yards (6,400.8 m), and the flooding, which had been a problem since the first bombardment, became impossible to control. She capsized and sank, leaving no survivors.

Memory

A granite obelisk was constructed in the Nicholas Gardens of St. Petersburg to remember the men of the Imperator Aleksandr II. It was designed by Artem Ober and Yakov Filote.