Almaz

This is cool. This is the Almaz (Diamond) a survivor of the Battle of Tsushima. Originally it was built as a yacht for the Russian Grand Admiral. It had a reasonable turn of speed for the time, around 24 knots, and it was thought it'd make a comfortable flagship for Rhozdventsky.

But the Commander of the Second Pacific Squadron preferred the battleship Suvorov and Almaz was given to Admiral Enkvist's cruiser squadron.

Towards the end of the battle, Enkvist took the cruisers Oleg, Aurora and Zhemchug (Pearl) and made for Manila. Almaz, along with the destroyers Grozny and Bravy made for Vladivostok to bring news of the disaster to the Russian fleet. Izumrud (Emerald) tried to follow but was wrecked on the coast of Korea.

Almaz was too lightly armed and Rhozdventsky had no useful role for it. He had two despatch vessels, the proto light cruisers Izumrud and Zhemchug, which were far more capable ships.

On the night of the 27th May, 1905, Almaz ran into Japanese cruisers and there was a brief engagement. However, the only three survivors of the battle escaped in the dark after taking heavy damage.

Don