''Ural'' was an

auxiliary cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in ...

of the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...

during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. She was originally a for

Norddeutscher Lloyd Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of t ...

, launched in 1890 under the name ''Spree''. She was renamed ''Kaiserin Maria Theresia'' in 1899, before being sold to the Russians in 1904.

Commercial service

Built in 1890 as ''Spree'' for

of Bremen by the

AG Vulcan Aktien-Gesellschaft Vulcan Stettin (short AG Vulcan Stettin) was a German shipbuilding and locomotive building company. Founded in 1851, it was located near the former eastern German city of Stettin, today Polish Szczecin. Because of the limited ...

shipyard of Stettin,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, she was with a length of and a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a speed of . She had two

funnels A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construc ...

, three masts, and a single

screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to f ...

, with accommodation for 244 first-class, 122 second-class and 460 third-class passengers. She made her maiden voyage leaving Bremen for New York on 11 October 1890. She would continue to ply this route for eight years. Whilst heading west across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

in November 1892, ''Spree''s main propeller shaft broke and made a hole in the stern. There was considerable panic amongst the passengers until it became clear that the ship's

watertight compartments Floodability is the susceptibility of a ship's construction to flooding. It also refers to the ability to intentionally flood certain areas of the hull for damage control purposes, or to increase stability, which is particularly important in comb ...

would keep it afloat. Two days later, the steamship ''Lake Huron'' was sighted and was able to tow ''Spree'' back to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. There was only one casualty in the incident: a man who threw himself overboard and was drowned. The event was memorialized in a poem by

William McGonagall William Topaz McGonagall (March 1825 – 29 September 1902) was a Scottish poet of Irish descent. He gained notoriety as an extremely bad poet who exhibited no recognition of, or concern for, his peers' opinions of his work. He wrote about 2 ...

In 1899 she was completely rebuilt by AG Vulcan. She was lengthened to , her tonnage increased to , new engines were fitted joined to twin screws to give a speed of . The number of funnels was increased to three, though she was reduced to two masts. Her accommodation was altered to carry 405 first-class, 114 second-class and 387 third-class passengers, and she was renamed ''Kaiserin Maria Theresia'' (some sources say ''Theresa''.)

Wartime service

She was sold to the

in 1904 for use in the

. The Russians rebuilt her as an

and renamed her ''Ural''. In October she left

Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for " crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city ...

to join Admiral

Zinovy Rozhestvensky Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky (russian: Зиновий Петрович Рожественский, tr. ; – January 14, 1909) was an admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. He was in command of the Second Pacific Squadron in the Battle of Tsu ...

's fleet on its way to

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

. In May 1905, ''Ural'' was used as a scout ship and was the first ship to sight Admiral

Tōgō Heihachirō Marshal-Admiral Marquis , served as a '' gensui'' or admiral of the fleet in the Imperial Japanese Navy and became one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. He claimed descent from Samurai Shijo Kingo, and he was an integral part of preserving ...

's fleet at the Battle of Tsushima. In an action with Japanese battleships, she was hit by a shell in the engine room and eventually

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

ed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

The Ships List – Ships Descriptions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ural Ships built in Stettin 1890 ships Ships of Norddeutscher Lloyd Rivers-class ocean liners Ships of the Imperial Russian Navy Russo-Japanese War naval ships of Russia Maritime incidents in 1905 Shipwrecks of the Russo-Japanese War Shipwrecks in the Tsushima Strait