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Description
One of several Russian battleships captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the May 1905 Battle of Tsushima was Imperator Nikolai I, a battleship built by the Franco-Russian Works of St. Petersburg and commissioned in 1891. Named for a mid-19th-century czar, Imperator Nikolai I had its armament changed during construction, resulting in a bow-heavy battleship. Its first assignment was a diplomatic visit to France, after which it sailed to Japan and China. It then joined the Mediterranean Squadron in 1896, patrolling the Greek island of Crete, which was rebelling against the Ottoman Turkish Empire. It returned to Russia in 1898 for a refit, but was still a bit bow-heavy.

During the Russo-Japanese War, it was Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov's flagship, and it played a fateful role in the May 1905 Battle of Tsushima. While Imperator Nikolai I was lightly damaged, the Russian fleet overall was taking a lot of damage, losing most of Admiral Rozhdestvensky's ships, and Admiral Nebogatov decided to surrender to Admiral Togo rather than wait for Admiral Oscar Enqvist's cruisers and risk losing the whole fleet.

The IJN captured several ships, including Imperator Nikolai I, which was renamed HIJMS Iki and sunk as a gunnery target in October 1915. Admiral Nebogatov did not fare too well, either, as he was held as a POW for a year and dishonorably discharged in absentia. In 1906, Nebogatov returned to Russia to be court-martialed with 77 other officers, and was sentenced to death by firing squad, which was commuted to 10 years in prison. On his birthday in 1909, the czar pardoned Nebogatov, who walked out of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg and moved to Moscow, a city far from the sea, where he died in 1922.

This model of Imperator Nikolai I is on display aboard the museum ship HIJMS Mikasa in Yokosuka, Japan.

Description
One of several Russian battleships captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the May 1905 Battle of Tsushima was Imperator Nikolai I, a battleship built by the Franco-Russian Works of St. Petersburg and commissioned in 1891. Named for a mid-19th-century czar, Imperator Nikolai I had its armament changed during construction, resulting in a bow-heavy battleship. Its first assignment was a diplomatic visit to France, after which it sailed to Japan and China. It then joined the Mediterranean Squadron in 1896, patrolling the Greek island of Crete, which was rebelling against the Ottoman Turkish Empire. It returned to Russia in 1898 for a refit, but was still a bit bow-heavy.

During the Russo-Japanese War, it was Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov's flagship, and it played a fateful role in the May 1905 Battle of Tsushima. While Imperator Nikolai I was lightly damaged, the Russian fleet overall was taking a lot of damage, losing most of Admiral Rozhdestvensky's ships, and Admiral Nebogatov decided to surrender to Admiral Togo rather than wait for Admiral Oscar Enqvist's cruisers and risk losing the whole fleet.

The IJN captured several ships, including Imperator Nikolai I, which was renamed HIJMS Iki and sunk as a gunnery target in October 1915. Admiral Nebogatov did not fare too well, either, as he was held as a POW for a year and dishonorably discharged in absentia. In 1906, Nebogatov returned to Russia to be court-martialed with 77 other officers, and was sentenced to death by firing squad, which was commuted to 10 years in prison. On his birthday in 1909, the czar pardoned Nebogatov, who walked out of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg and moved to Moscow, a city far from the sea, where he died in 1922.

This model of Imperator Nikolai I is on display aboard the museum ship HIJMS Mikasa in Yokosuka, Japan.