The Imperatritsa Maria, an imperial dreadnought that served in the Black Sea Fleet.
The Maria was the lead ship of the Empress Maria-class dreadnoughts built for the Imperial Russian Navy. The ship was laid down on October 1913 and entered service in June 1915 with the Black Sea Fleet.
The Maria is named after Tsar Alexandr III's wife, Maria Fedorovona, and in the summer of 1916 was designated the flagship of Vice Admiral Alexander Kolchak. However, later that year, an explosion in the ammunition storage magazine resulted in the ship capsizing and going under with 225 hands, and 85 of the sailors were seriously injured. Admiral Kolchak personally led rescue efforts to save the ship's crew.
Russia tall ships, a type of old sailing vessel, participated this week in the Sails Amsterdam festival, which is held every five years in the Dutch capital. In the spirit of the festival, which features many old sailing ships, The Moscow Times took a look at some of the old warships of the Russian Navy that served over a century ago.
Alexei Ganzen / Wikicommons