:Russian cruiser Bayan (1907)

Bayan was {{convert|449.6|ft|1}} long overall. She had a maximum beam of {{convert|57.5|ft|1}}, a draught of {{convert|26|ft|1}} and displaced {{convert|7750|LT|t}}. The ship had a crew of 568 officers and men. Bayan was named in honor of the earlier Russian cruiser of the same class captured by the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War.McLaughlin, p. 75 Both ships were named for the legendary bard, Boyan.

The ship had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines with a designed total of {{convert|16500|ihp|kW|lk=in|0}}, but they developed {{convert|19320|ihp|kW|lk=in}} on sea trials and drove the ship to a maximum speed of {{convert|22.55|kn|lk=in}}. 26 Belleville boilers provided steam for the engines. She could carry a maximum of {{convert|1100|LT|t|0}} of coal, although her range is unknown.

Bayan{{'}}s main armament consisted of two 203mm 45 caliber Pattern 1892 45-calibre guns in single turrets fore and aft. Her eight 152 mm 45 caliber Pattern 1892 guns were mounted in casemates on the sides of the ship's hull.Watts, p. 100 Anti-torpedo boat defense was provided by twenty-two 75mm 50 caliber Pattern 1892 50-calibre guns; eight were mounted in casemates on the side of the hull and in the superstructure. In the admiral's apartments, two guns were astern, and the remaining twelve were located on upper deck amidships (eight above the six-inch gun casemates), in pivot mounts with gun shields. The ship also had two submerged {{convert|450|mm|adj=on|0}} torpedo tubes, one mounted on each broadside.Vinogradov & Fedechkin, pp. 123–27

In early 1916, eight of the ship's 75 mm guns in the central casemate were removed, and in early 1917, the rest were removed as well. By early 1917, an additional eight-inch gun was fitted on the centreline forward of the mainmast (it was supposed to be protected with a gun shield, but the photos do not confirm this). In addition, four more six-inch guns were added on an upper deck, two on each broadside.McLaughlin, p. 69 In early 1917, Bayan was also fitted with two anti-aircraft 76 mm Lender guns, mounted to the sides of the after turret.

The ship used Krupp armour throughout. Her waterline belt was {{convert|175|mm|1}} thick over her machinery spaces, reducing to {{convert|90|mm|1}} towards the lower edge. Fore and aft, it reduced to {{convert|100|mm|1}}.Vinogradov & Fedechkin, pp. 131–32 The upper belt and casemates were {{convert|60|mm|1}} thick. The armour deck was {{convert|50|mm|0}} thick; over the central battery it was a single plate, but elsewhere it consisted of a {{convert|30|mm|adj=on}} plate over two {{convert|10|mm|adj=on}} plates. The gun turrets were protected by {{convert|132|mm}} of armour and the conning tower had walls {{convert|136|mm}} thick.McLaughlin, p. 68

The Admiralty Shipyard in Saint Petersburg built Bayan. Construction began on 15 August 1905, although she was ceremonially laid down only on the day of her launching, 15 August 1907. Bayan was completed in early 1911 and commissioned on 14 July 1911.Vinogradov & Fedechkin, pp. 103, 107–09 She spent her entire career with the Baltic Fleet.McLaughlin, p. 78

Bayan was assigned to the First Cruiser Brigade when World War I began. Shortly after the start of the war, in December 1914, Bayan was modified to carry up to 110 mines.Vinogradov & Fedechkin, p. 172 She laid her first mines in early December when she was one of a group of ships that mined the northern and western entrances to the Gulf of Danzig. The following month, she provided cover as other cruisers laid minefields west of the Baltic Sea, near Bornholm and Rügen Islands on the night of 12 January 1915. Together with her sister {{ship|Russian cruiser|Admiral Makarov||2}} and two protected cruisers, she fought a brief and inconclusive action with the light cruiser {{SMS|München}} during the night of 6/7 May while covering a minelaying sortie off Libau.Halpern, pp. 186, 192

On 2 July, the ship participated in the Battle of Åland Islands when intercepted and decoded wireless signals informed the Russians that a small German force was at sea to lay a minefield off Åland. Rear Admiral Mikhail Bakhirev was already at sea with Admiral Makarov, Bayan, {{ship|Russian cruiser|Rurik|1906|2}}, the protected cruisers {{ship|Russian cruiser|Bogatyr||2}} and {{ship|Russian cruiser|Oleg||2}}, and the destroyer {{ship|Russian destroyer|Novik|1911|2}} en route to bombard Memel. Rurik and Novik got separated from the others in the fog. Still, the rest of the force encountered the light cruiser {{SMS|Augsburg}} and several destroyers escorting the minelayer {{SMS|Albatross|1907|6}}. The Russians concentrated on Albatross, which was forced to run aground in Swedish territorial waters, while the faster Augsburg escaped to the south. The Russian cruisers were low on ammunition when they encountered two more German cruisers and broke off the action after Bayan and the armoured cruiser {{SMS|Roon}} exchanged hits.Halpern, pp. 194–95 Bayan fired 40 eight-inch rounds and was hit with one 210 mm round amidships, which caused superficial damage and wounds to two crewmen. Roon lost her wireless aerial due to a near miss; the Russians reported more hits but not confirmed.Vinogradov & Fedechkin, pp. 179–81

{{Main|Battle of Moon Sound}}

In 1917, Bayan was the flagship of Vice Admiral Bakhirev, who now commanded the naval forces defending the Gulf of Riga. During Operation Albion, the invasion of the Estonian islands of Saaremaa (Ösel), Hiiumaa (Dagö) and Muhu (Moon) in October 1917, the ship defended the southern entrance to Moon Sound on 17 October. When the German minesweepers cleared the minefields guarding the entrance, Bayan attacked them and the predreadnought {{ship|Soviet battleship|Grazhdanin||2}}. In contrast, the predreadnought {{ship|Russian battleship|Slava||2}} engaged the dreadnoughts {{SMS|König||2}} and {{SMS|Kronprinz|1914|2}}, defending the minesweepers. Slava was hit multiple times by the German ships, and Bakirev ordered his forces to withdraw. Bayan was the last ship to withdraw, but she was shot once by a {{convert|30.5|cm|adj=on}} shell from König before she moved out of range. The shell penetrated the deck near the forward turret and started a fire among the flammable material in the cable compartment that was not extinguished until the next day.Staff, pp. 8, 108, 110, 112–13, 115–16 Fragments from the shell destroyed a bulkhead and loosened some plates of the ship's bottom. The location of the fire near the forward magazine forced it to be flooded as a precaution. Between the leaky plates and the flooded magazine, the ship took about {{convert|1000|LT}} aboard, and her draught forward increased to {{convert|26|ft|1}}. The shell killed five men and wounded three more.According to the Bayan{{'}}s commander, Captain S. Timiryov, the casualties of the Koenig{{'}}s shell were members of the revolutionary committee, who had decided to run a meeting there against "a criminal conduct of the ship's command, risking seamen's lives in a battle with stronger enemy". The crew reportedly commented on the accident as God's punishment. Vinogradov & Fedechkin, p. 196 Despite her increased draught, Bayan could pass through the dredged channel connecting the northern and southern parts of Moon Sound later that day. When the general withdrawal was ordered the following day, the ship sailed for Finland.Staff, pp. 127, 139

She was paid off in 1918 and did not participate in the Russian Civil War.Budzbon, p. 296 Bayan was sold for scrap in 1922 and broken up in Stettin.

{{reflist|group=Note}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite book|editor1-last=Gray|editor1-first=Randal|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 |year=1985 |location=Annapolis, Maryland|publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-85177-245-5 |last=Budzbon|first=Przemysław |pages=291–325|chapter=Russia}}
• {{cite book|last=Halpern|first=Paul S.|title=A Naval History of World War I|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1994|isbn=1-55750-352-4}}
• {{cite book|last=McLaughlin|first=Stephen|title=Warship 1999-2000|editor=Preston, Antony|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|year=1999|chapter=From Ruirik to Ruirik: Russia's Armoured Cruisers|isbn=0-85177-724-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Staff|first=Gary|title=Battle for the Baltic Islands 1917: Triumph of the Imperial German Navy|publisher=Pen & Sword Maritime|location=Barnsley, England|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84415-787-7}}
• {{cite book|last1=Vinogradov|first1=Sergey|last2=Fedechkin |first2=Aleksey|title=Bronenosnyi kreyser "Bayan" i yego potomki. Ot Port-Artura do Moonzunda|isbn=978-5-699-51559-2|year=2011|publisher=Yauza / EKSMO|location=Moscow|language=Russian|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book|last=Watts|first=Anthony J.|title=The Imperial Russian Navy|publisher=Arms and Armour|location=London|year=1990|isbn=0-85368-912-1}}

{{Commons category|Bayan (ship, 1905)|Bayan}}

• [http://www.neva.ru/EXPO96/book/chap11-2.html World War I Naval Operations in the Baltic theater]

{{Bayan class cruiser}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayan (1907)}}

Category:Bayan-class cruisers

Category:Ships built at Admiralty Shipyard

Category:1907 ships

Category:World War I cruisers of Russia