Russian battleship Retvizan

Retvizan in the Delaware River, 1902
Class overview
Name	Retvizan
Operators	Imperial Russian Navy
Preceded by	Potemkin
Succeeded by	Tsesarevich
Built	1899–1902
In commission	1902–1922
Completed	1
History
Russian Empire
Name	Retvizan
Ordered	2 May 1898[Note 1]
Builder	William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Cost	$4,360,000
Yard number	300
Laid down	29 July 1899
Launched	23 October 1900
Commissioned	23 March 1902
Captured	2 January 1905
Fate	Sunk by Japanese howitzers in Port Arthur, China, 6 December 1904
Empire of Japan
Name	Hizen
Namesake	Hizen Province
Acquired	2 January 1905
Out of service	April 1922
Renamed	Hizen
Reclassified	1 September 1921 as a 1st-class coast defence ship
Refit	27 November 1905 – November 1908
Stricken	20 September 1923
Fate	Sunk as gunnery target, 25 July 1924
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	12,780 long tons (12,985 t) (normal)
Length	386 ft 8 in (117.9 m)
Beam	72 ft 2 in (22 m)
Draught	25 ft (7.6 m)
Installed power	16,000 ihp (11,931 kW) 24 Niclausse boilers
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range	4,900 nmi (9,100 km; 5,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	28 officers, 722 men
Armament	2 × twin 12 in (305 mm) guns 12 × single 6 in (152 mm) guns 20 × single 75 mm (3 in) guns 24 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 6 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 6 × 15 in (381 mm) torpedo tubes 45 mines
Armour	Krupp armour Belt: 9 in (229 mm) Deck: 2–3 in (51–76 mm) Barbettes: 4–8 in (102–203 mm) Turrets: 9 in (229 mm) Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm) Bulkheads: 7 in (178 mm)

Retvizan (Russian: Ретвизан) was a pre-dreadnought battleship built before the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 for the Imperial Russian Navy. She was built by the American William Cramp & Sons because Russian shipyards were already at full capacity. Named after a Swedish ship of the line that was captured during the battle of Vyborg Bay in 1790 (Swedish: Rättvisan, meaning both fairness and justice), Retvizan was briefly assigned to the Baltic Fleet, but was transferred to the Far East in 1902.

The ship was torpedoed during the Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur during the night of 8/9 February 1904 and grounded in the harbour entrance when she attempted to take refuge inside, as her draft had significantly deepened from the amount of water she had taken aboard after the torpedo hit. She was refloated and repaired in time to join the rest of the 1st Pacific Squadron when they attempted to reach Vladivostok through the Japanese blockade on 10 August. The Japanese battle fleet engaged them again in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, forcing most of the Russian ships to return to Port Arthur after their squadron commander was killed and his flagship damaged. Retvizan was sunk by Japanese howitzers in December after the Japanese gained control of the heights around the harbour.

The Japanese raised and repaired Retvizan after Port Arthur surrendered in January 1905. She was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as Hizen (肥前) in 1908. Based in Sasebo when Japan declared war on Germany in 1914, the ship was sent to reinforce the weak British squadron off British Columbia, but diverted to Hawaii after reports of a German gunboat there. Hizen was unsuccessfully sent to search for other German ships after the Americans interned the gunboat in November. After World War I she supported the Japanese intervention in the Russian Civil War and was disarmed in 1922 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. The ship was sunk as a gunnery target in 1924.
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