Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III

Volia at sea
History
Imperial Russia and the Russian Provisional Government
Name	Imperator Aleksandr III
Namesake	Tsar Alexander III of Russia
Operator	Imperial Russian Navy
Ordered	13 April 1912[Note 1]
Builder	Russud Shipyard, Nikolayev
Laid down	30 October 1911
Launched	15 April 1914
In service	17 July 1917
Renamed	Volia (Russian: Воля, Freedom) on 29 April 1917
Fate	Ship taken over by the Bolsheviks following the start of the October Revolution in November 1917.
Russian SFSR
Name	Volia (Russian: Воля, Freedom)
Operator	Red Fleet
Acquired	Taken from the Russian Provisional Government in November 1917
Fate	Turned over to Imperial Germany on 19 June 1918 as part of the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Imperial Germany
Name	Volia (Russian: Воля, Freedom)
Operator	Kaiserliche Marine
Acquired	From the Red Fleet on 19 June 1918
Fate	Turned over to the British Empire on 24 November 1918 as part of the terms of the Peace of Compiègne.
British Empire
Name	Volia (Russian: Воля, Freedom)
Operator	Royal Navy
Acquired	From Imperial Germany on 24 November 1918
Fate	Returned to the White Army on 1 November 1919. Renamed General Alekseyev.
White Army
Name	General Alekseyev
Namesake	Mikhail Alekseyev
Operator	Wrangel's Fleet (part of the White Army in Southern Russia)
Acquired	From the British Empire on 1 November 1919
Out of service	29 December 1920
Fate	Remained docked in Bizerte, French Tunisia, until 1936. Scrapped by the French to pay for her docking fees
General characteristics
Class and type	Imperatritsa Mariya-class battleship
Displacement	23,413 long tons (23,789 t)
Length	168 m (551 ft 2 in)
Beam	27.43 m (90 ft)
Draft	8.36 m (27 ft 5 in)
Installed power	20 Yarrow boilers 26,000 shp (19,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range	1,640 nautical miles (3,037 km; 1,887 mi) at 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Complement	1,154
Armament	4 × triple 12-inch (305 mm) guns 18 × single 130 mm (5.1 in) guns 4 × single 76.2 mm (3 in) AA guns 4 × 17.7 in (450 mm) submerged torpedo tubes
Armor	Waterline belt: 125–262.5 mm (4.92–10.33 in) Deck: 9–50 mm (0.35–1.97 in) Gun turrets: 250 mm (9.8 in) Barbettes: 250 mm (9.8 in) Conning tower: 300 mm (11.8 in)

Imperator Aleksandr III (Emperor Alexander III) was the third and last ship of the Imperatritsa Mariya-class dreadnoughts of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was begun before World War I, completed during the war and saw service with the Black Sea Fleet. She was renamed Volia or Volya (Russian: Вóля, Freedom) before her completion and then General Alekseyev (Генерал Алексеев) in 1920. The ship was delivered in 1917, but the disruptions of the February Revolution rendered the Black Sea Fleet ineffective and she saw no combat.

Volia was surrendered to the Germans in 1918 who briefly commissioned her, but they were forced to turn her over to the British by the terms of the Armistice. The British then turned her over to the White Russians in 1919 and they used her to help evacuate the Crimea in 1920. She was interned in Bizerte, French Tunisia, by the French and ultimately scrapped by them in 1936 to pay her docking fees. Her guns were put into storage and were later used by the Germans and Finns for coastal artillery during World War II. Both countries continued to use them throughout the Cold War.
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