Launch of the Russian Battleship Slava (1903)
On August 29, 1903, workers at the New Admiralty shipyard in St. Petersburg slid the battleship Slava into the waters of the Neva River, completing construction of the fifth and final vessel in Russia's ambitious Borodino-class program. Though built to the same design as her four sister ships, Slava's slower completion schedule proved to be a stroke of fortune: while Knyaz Suvorov, Imperator Alexander III, Borodino, and Oryol sailed to catastrophic destruction or surrender at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, Slava remained in the Baltic and lived on for over a decade of service.
Building the Borodino Class
The Borodino-class battleships represented Imperial Russia's attempt to modernize its fleet at the turn of the twentieth century, drawing inspiration from French pre-dreadnought designs while incorporating Russian naval priorities. Each ship displaced roughly 13,500 tons and carried a main armament of four 12-inch guns in two twin turrets, supplemented by twelve 6-inch guns in casemates along the hull. Slava, whose name translates to "Glory," was laid down in 1902 at the New Admiralty yard, one of Russia's premier shipbuilding facilities. Her construction proceeded alongside her sisters, but delays in fitting out machinery and armament pushed her completion well behind the others. By the time she was formally commissioned in 1905, the geopolitical situation that had prompted the entire class's construction had already turned disastrous for Russia. The Russo-Japanese War, which erupted in February 1904, placed enormous pressure on the Imperial Russian Navy to reinforce its Pacific squadrons, and the four completed Borodino-class ships were dispatched halfway around the world as part of the ill-fated Second Pacific Squadron under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky. Slava, still undergoing final preparations, was left behind in the Baltic, a decision that would ultimately determine her survival.
Did You Know?
Slava was the only one of the five Borodino-class battleships never to fall into Japanese hands or sink at Tsushima—yet she met her own dramatic end in 1917 when her crew deliberately scuttled her in the Moon Sound strait to block advancing German dreadnoughts, just weeks before the Russian Revolution changed history forever.
Spared from Tsushima
The Battle of Tsushima, fought on May 27–28, 1905, remains one of the most decisive naval engagements in modern history. The Japanese Combined Fleet under Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō annihilated the exhausted Russian squadron after its grueling seven-month voyage from the Baltic. Knyaz Suvorov, the flagship, was sunk after being battered by relentless Japanese gunfire; Imperator Alexander III capsized with the loss of her entire crew; and Borodino exploded and sank after a catastrophic magazine detonation. Oryol survived the battle itself but surrendered to Japanese forces the following day, later serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy under a new name. Of the five Borodino-class ships, only Slava escaped this fate entirely, simply because she had not been ready to join the doomed voyage. This accident of timing spared her crew from the slaughter and preserved her as the sole surviving example of her class still flying the Russian flag. She entered active service in the Baltic Fleet, where she would spend the remainder of her career defending Russia's home waters rather than contesting for supremacy in the Pacific.
Service and Final Fate
Slava went on to serve for over a decade, taking part in Baltic Fleet operations and later fighting against German naval forces during the First World War. Her most significant action came in October 1917 at the Battle of Moon Sound, part of the German Operation Albion aimed at seizing the West Estonian archipelago and threatening the approaches to Petrograd. During the engagement, Slava was heavily damaged by fire from modern German dreadnoughts, taking on water and losing the ability to maneuver effectively through the shallow strait. Rather than let the crippled battleship fall into enemy hands, her commanders scuttled her in the channel, deliberately sinking the ship to block the passage and deny German forces easy access. This final act meant Slava, the last of her class, met an end distinct from all her sisters—not sunk in battle by enemy fire alone, nor surrendered, but destroyed by her own crew in a defiant final gesture. Her wreck remained partially visible for years afterward, a landmark of the strait and a reminder of the Borodino class's turbulent history, from the ambitious naval buildup preceding the Russo-Japanese War to the collapse of the Russian Empire itself just weeks after Slava's destruction, as the Bolshevik Revolution unfolded in Petrograd.