1:42 Scale: Cruiser Varyag | World of Warships

The history books of the Russian Navy have a great number of glorious pages with the names of heroic ships inscribed. The most renowned among them is the 1st-rank Protected Cruiser, which accepted an unequal battle with 15 enemy ships at the very beginning of the Russo-Japanese War. Her heroic deed was celebrated in movies and songs. Proud Vadyag will not surrender to the enemy. No one wants their mercy. The cruiser Vadyag was laid in 1899 at an American dockyard in Philadelphia, under order of the Russian Empire's naval ministry. Vadyag was an attempt to design a universal cruiser class that could simultaneously act as a single raider and a powerful scout and a squadron capable of fighting even armored enemy ships if necessary. In the beginning of 1901, the ship entered service in the Imperial Russian Navy. The cruiser's length was over 425 feet, its beam—almost 52 feet, the actual displacement was over 7,000 tons, and the draft—almost 21 feet. The engine power reached 16,000 horsepower, which could enable the cruiser to attain a speed of up to 23 knots. But engine failures became a serious problem for the ship, and her actual speed by 1904 was only 14 knots. On both sides of the cruiser, booms for the torpedo nets were mounted. Nets fixed to these booms held back torpedoes and prevented them from hitting the ship hull. The armored deck of Vadyag was up to 3 inches thick, and the conning tower was protected by 6 inches of armor. The primary armament of the cruiser consisted of 12 6-inch Kané guns mounted on the upper deck. Four of these guns were located on the ship ends, two on each end, and the rest were mounted along the sides. The secondary armament included 12 3-inch Kané guns for torpedo defense, eight 2-inch guns. Two of these guns, along with a pair of 1.5-inch guns and two machine guns, were used for arming boats and motorboats. The cruiser was also equipped with six above-water 15-inch torpedo tubes and 35 obstacle mines. In early 1901, Vadyag arrived in Kronstadt and set off three months later for a new destination in the Far East. In 1903, a year after arriving at Port Artyr, a new commander, Captain of the First Rank, Vsevolod Fyodorovich Vrudniv, was appointed to the ship. Early in the morning on December 27, 1903, an order was received via radio from the squadron commander. The cruiser and the gunboat Kariyets were required to ensure the safety of the Russian mission in Seoul. The next morning, Vadyag raised her anchor and headed for Chimu-Por to her first and last battle, immortalizing the ship's name. The entire international military squadron focused on the harbor of the Korean port. The squadron was to ensure stability in this region. But in late January 1904, that precarious stability was over. Japan broke off its diplomatic relations with Russia. On January 27, a cruiser squadron of the Japanese Navy led by the Rear Admiral Hiroo Sitokichi blocked Chimu-Po and Japanese landing parties landed on the coast. The cruiser Vadyag and gunboat Kariyets decided to force their way to Port Artyr. Having arranged the crew members on the upper deck and sounded the alarm, both ships moved to exit the bay. An orchestra played on the Vadyag. As an expression of their admiration for Russian courage, foreign ships in the harbor saw them off by singing the Russian anthem and shouting, Hurrah! The Japanese didn't expect the Russian ships to leave the port. Admiral Hiroo at first couldn't believe that the Russians were not going to surrender, but instead, attack his squadron. The first salvos were heard. The adversary literally showered the Russian ships with high explosive shells. Vadyag responded by rapidly firing heavy armor-piercing shells that, unfortunately, often pierced the sides of Japanese ships without exploding. Within the first 30 minutes of the battle, the Russian ship was seriously damaged. The right wing of the forebridge was crashed. There were fires in the navigation room, and the main fighting top was destroyed. Rangefinders failed to determine the distance to the adversary, and this heavily affected the precision of Vadyag's fire. Two main battery guns, two 3-inch guns, and three 2-inch guns were disabled. Explosions ignited crew members' living quarters, but Vadyag continued firing back and moving forward. After 20 minutes of battling, the commander decided to bring port-side guns into action. When the cruiser started turning, the adversary's shells broke the steering system and hit officers and crew members with fragments that penetrated the conning tower. Sivolod Fyodorovich Rudnev was wounded, but continued to command the ship. However, the cruiser was unable to maneuver. She received damage underwater on the left side of the stern and started rolling over. The commander gave an order to return to Chumulpal. According to the report from the Varyag's commander, one destroyer was sunk, and three cruisers were damaged by the Varyag's fire. The cruiser Varyag was hit 7-11 times in the battle. The losses were great, with 8 officers and 115 crew members among the killed and wounded. Half of them had been on the upper deck during the battle. This amounts to a fifth of the entire crew. Out of the 12 main battery guns, only two remained in working condition. It was impossible to resume the battle, but no one was going to surrender the ships. It was decided to send the surviving crew to foreign vessels. Having received Rudnev's request, commanders of European ships immediately sent boats with medics. Kariets was the first to be exploded. Then the Kingston valves were opened on the Varyag. Vsevolod Fyodorovich Rudnev was the last to leave the ship. On January 27, 1904, at 18.10, the protected cruiser Varyag toppled onto its left side and disappeared beneath the waves, with its St. Andrew's flag fluttering. The ship commander was awarded a 4th-class Order of St. George and promoted to Flegal Adjutant. This award wasn't the last one for Vsevolod Fyodorovich Rudnev. Fascinated by the valor of the Russian sailors, the Japanese Emperor awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun in 1907. This way, the Japanese appreciated the heroic feat not only of the commander, but of his ship as well— the first-ranked protected cruiser Varyag.