The cruiser Bayan (Russian: Баян) was the lead ship

Lead ship

The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...

 in the of armored cruiser

Armored cruiser

The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...

s in the Imperial Russian Navy

Imperial Russian Navy

The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...

. It was built in Toulon

Toulon

Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

, France

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...

 by the Compagnie des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée à la Seine

Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée

The Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée was a French shipbuilding company. The 'Société des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée' was founded in 1853 by Philip Taylor, while a new company, the 'Nouvelle' société, was founded in 1856. It had shipyards in La Seyne-sur-Mer,...

. The name Bayan means "Bard" or "storyteller" in Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

.

Operational history

The Bayan, one of the most modern ships in the Imperial Russian Navy, was assigned to serve in the Port Arthur

Lüshunkou

Lüshunkou is a district in the municipality of Dalian, Liaoning province, China. Also called Lüshun City or Lüshun Port, it was formerly known as both Port Arthur and Ryojun....

 squadron of the Russian Pacific Fleet, partly in response to the acquisition of the armored cruisers by the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

.

At the outbreak of hostilities between Japan and Russia, the Bayan was moored at the Russian naval port of Port Arthur, and suffered numerous hits during the initial Japanese attack

Battle of Port Arthur

The Battle of Port Arthur was the starting battle of the Russo-Japanese War...

 on the night of 8 February 1904. It was consequently trapped in the harbor along with the rest of the Russian fleet during the subsequent Siege of Port Arthur

Siege of Port Arthur

The Siege of Port Arthur , 1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905, the deep-water port and Russian naval base at the tip of the Liaotung Peninsula in Manchuria, was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russo-Japanese War....

.

The damage to the Bayan was not serious enough to prevent her from participating as flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

 in the sortie by Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov

Stepan Makarov

Stepan Osipovich Makarov was a Ukrainian - born Russian vice-admiral, a highly accomplished and decorated commander of the Imperial Russian Navy, an oceanographer, awarded by the Russian Academy of Sciences, and author of several books. Makarov also designed a small number of ships...

 out of Port Arthur on 10 March 1904, together with the cruiser , to support Russian destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s under attack by the Japanese destroyers.

For the next month Bayan was involved in a number of sorties by the First Pacific Squadron, including Admiral Makarov's ill-fated final sortie of 12 April 1904. The Bayan was only two kilometers from Port Arthur when the Admiral's flagship struck a mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

 and sank. The Bayan assisted with rescue of the survivors, which did not include the Admiral.

The Bayan participated in additional sorties on 23 June 1904 and 24 July 1904. While returning from this last sortie and flying the flag of Rear Admiral Reitzenstein, the Bayan struck a mine but made it back to Port Arthur. She was still under repair on 10 August 1904 when the Port Arthur squadron under Rear Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft

Wilgelm Vitgeft

Wilgelm Karlovich Vitgeft , sometimes written Wilhelm and Withöft was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy, noted for his service in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.-Biography:...

 attempted to run the Japanese blockade for Vladivostok

Vladivostok

The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...

 and engaged the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Yellow Sea

Battle of the Yellow Sea

The Battle of the Yellow Sea was a major naval engagement of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 10 August 1904. In the Russian Navy, it was referred to as the Battle of 10 August. The battle foiled an attempt by the Russian fleet at Port Arthur to break out and form up with counterparts from...

.

After the death of Admiral Vitgelf, Robert Wiren (1856-1917), the captain of the Bayan was appointed commander of the Port Arthur Squadron. However, despite Wiren's admirable combat record, he showed no inclination to leave port to engage the Japanese, using the excuse that he needed to preserve his ships to reinforce the Russian Baltic Fleet, already on its way to relieve the siege. His excuse may have had some validity, had he not backed it up by removing almost all of the guns from his remaining ships to reinforce the shore batteries, and re-assigning most of his sailors to land duty as infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

.

The Japanese Army continued to tighten the stranglehold on Port Arthur. By November 1904 the Japanese had positioned eighteen 11-inch (280 mm) siege mortars (12,242 yard range, 480 lb (217.7 kg) shells), into place to bombard the Russian ships in the port. By December, all of the warships of the First Pacific Squadron that had not already been sunk were scuttled by their crews to prevent capture, by exploding six to eight torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

 warheads around the hull of each surviving ship. Bayan took more hits from the Japanese guns (12) than any battleship or cruiser in the squadron. She suffered seven hits on the deck, of which five penetrated and five hits on the side of the hull.

After the end of the war, the wreck of the Bayan was raised and towed to Japan, where it was repaired and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 as a prize of war

Prize of war

A prize of war is a piece of military property seized by the victorious party after a war or battle, typically at sea. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of a captured ship during the 18th and 19th centuries....

. Renamed the , it was decommissioned in 1920 and sunk as target in 1930.

Aso

Aso served in the Imperial Japanese Navy through World War I until she was decommissioned in 1920. She was sunk as a target in 1930.

A second ship in the Bayan class was named in honor of its predecessor. Commissioned in 1911, it served in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and was scrapped in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

in 1922.

External links

• http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/bayan_class.htm - site in English with many photographs