Russian cruiser Novik (1900)

Novík was a protected cruiser in the Imperial Russian Navy, built by Schichau shipyards in Elbing near Danzig, Germany.

Background
Novik was a very fast ship for the time, but smaller than most contemporary cruisers, and perhaps a forerunner of later light cruisers. It was built by the German shipbuilders Schichau at the end of the 19th century, and her performance so impressed the Russian naval leadership that a near copy was made in the Russian Izumrud class.

Service life
The Novik performed heroically in various engagements during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. One of the few ships in the Russian fleet to offer combat during the initial Battle of Port Arthur, it closed to within 3,000 yards of the Japanese fleet to deliver a torpedo.

In the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Russian fleet attempted to run the Japanese blockade of Port Arthur. The attempt failed, and most of the Russian ships returned to port but several managed to escape to be interned in various neutral ports. The Novik reached the neutral German port of Tsingtao in company of the battleship RUSSIAN BATTLESHIP Tsesarevich, but choosing to avoid internment, Commander Nikolai von Essen chose to outrace its Japanese pursuers around the Japanese home islands towards Vladivostok. The Novik was pursued by the JAPANESE CRUISER Tsushima, which was later joined by the JAPANESE CRUISER Chitose. Spotted by a Japanese transport ship while coaling at Sakhalin, Novik was trapped in Aniva Bay, and forced to battle off Korsakov by Tsushima. Realizing that he was hopelessly outgunned and after sustaining considerable damage, Commander von Essen ordered the Novik scuttled to make salvage impossible.

Nevertheless, the Japanese thought highly enough of the vessel to seize it as a prize of war, and it was repaired and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as the JAPANESE CRUISER Suzuya. It was declared obsolete and scrapped in 1913.