Russian cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi

Dmitrii Donskoi
History
Russian Empire
Name	Dmitrii Donskoi
Namesake	Dmitry Donskoy
Builder	New Admiralty Shipyard, Saint Petersburg
Cost	3,421,468 rubles
Laid down	21 May 1881
Launched	30 August 1883
Completed	Early 1885
Stricken	28 September 1905
Fate	Scuttled after the Battle of Tsushima, 29 May 1905
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Armoured cruiser
Displacement	5,882 long tons (5,976 t)
Length	306 ft 5 in (93.4 m)
Beam	58 ft 1 in (17.7 m)
Draught	25 ft 10 in (7.88 m)
Installed power	7,000 ihp (5,200 kW) 8 cylindrical boilers
Propulsion	1 shaft; 2 compound steam engines
Sail plan	ship rigged
Speed	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Range	7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	591
Armament	2 × single 8 in (203 mm) guns 14 × single 6 in (152 mm) guns 4 × 15 in (381 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Compound armour Belt: 9–4.5 in (230–110 mm) Deck: .5 in (13 mm) Barbettes: 12 in (305 mm)

Dmitrii Donskoi (Russian: Дмитрий Донской) was an armoured cruiser built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the early 1880s. She was designed as a commerce raider and equipped with a full suite of sails to economize on coal consumption. The ship spent the bulk of her career abroad, either in the Far East or in the Mediterranean.

Dmitrii Donskoi was assigned to the Second Pacific Squadron after the Japanese destroyed Russian ships deployed in the Far East during the early stages of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. The squadron was intercepted by the Japanese fleet in May 1905 in the Battle of Tsushima after a lengthy voyage from the Baltic. The cruiser was not seriously damaged during the initial fighting and tried to continue on to Vladivostok after the first day's fighting. She was spotted by several groups of Japanese warships the following day and was badly damaged in the resulting combat. Her captain ordered the crew ashore near Ulleungdo and had Dmitrii Donskoi scuttled offshore.