The iron protected cruiser Varyag was ordered by the Russian Imperial Admiralty and launched from the yard of Cramp and Co, Phildelphia (Yard No 301) on October 31st 1899. She measured 425.0′ x 52.0′ x 20.8′ and her displacement tonnage was 6500 tons. She was powered by 4 reciprocating VTW steam engines delivering 20,000 shaft horse power. She was heavily armed with 12 × 6 inch guns, 10 × 3.1 inch guns, 2 × 1.9 inch guns and 4 × 18 inch torpedo tubes. She was commissioned into the Imperial Russian Navy on January 2nd 1901. Her first commander was Captain Vladimir Behr.
Varyag
During the Battle of Chemupl’o Bay at the start of the Russo-Japanese war, Varyag (now under the command of Captain of the First Rank Vsevolod Rudnev) engaged in unequal battle with the Japanese squadron of Admiral Uriu (one armoured cruiser, five protected cruisers and eight destroyers) in a heroic attempt to break out from Chemulp’o (Incheon)) harbour February 9th, 1904. Chempulp’o was in neutral Korean waters. Admiral Uriu gave the Russian ships in harbour a written ultimatum to sail by 12:00 noon or be attacked in the harbour itself. Captain Rudnev sortied, accompanied by the gunboat Koreets but, having lost 31 men dead, 191 injured (out of 570) outgunned, both ships returned to harbour by 1:00 p.m. The crew decided not to surrender but to scuttle the ship. The crew were saved by transferring them to the British cruiser Talbot, the French cruiser Pascal, and the Italian cruiser Elba. The captain of the American cruiser Vicksburg declined doing so as a violation of U.S. neutrality.
Varyag lies scuttled at Chemulpo
In 1907, Vsevolod Rudnev was decorated with a Japanese order for that battle. Although he accepted the order, he never wore it in public. The Varyag was later salvaged by the Japanese and repaired. She served with the Imperial Japanese Navy as light cruiser Soya. Placed into Japanese service as a 3rd class cruiser, the Soya was used primarily for training duties. From 14th March 1909 to 7th August 1909, she made a long distance navigational and officer cadet training cruise to Hawaii and North America. She repeated this training cruise every year until 1913. During World War 1 Russia and Japan became allies and the Soya (along with several other vessels) was transferred back to Russia at Vladivostok on 5th April 1916, and it’s original name of Varyag restored. After spending some time in the White Sea, the Varyag was sent to Liverpool for repair in 1917. She did not return to Russia, spending the remainder of World War 1 as a depot ship somewhere in British waters.
In 1918 Varyag was under tow by three tugs heading for the Clyde when a navigation error resulted in the ships heading into the Solway Firth rather than round the Mull of Galloway and north into the Firth of Clyde. In poor visibility all four ships ran aground in Wigtown Bay and one more time Varyag had to be salvaged and towed north to be laid up in Gareloch before the decision was finally taken to scrap her. (Also see Ludgate for Solway stranding).
Varyag ashore at Burnfoot, Solway
On 5th February, 1920 she left the Gareloch under tow by the tugs Wrestler and Campaigner on her final voyage to the scrapyard in Liverpool. By dawn the following morning a strong westerly gale had blown up and the tugs found it impossible to control the rolling hulk which eventually stranded one mile south of Girvan. Initially the tugs managed to refloat the Varyag on the rising tide but the prevailing weather conditions proved too much for them and their charge and she stranded again that evening at the north end of Lendalfoot Bay.
Varyag ashore at Lendalfoot.
The wreck was visited by salvage experts over the next week and the Ardrossan Salvage Company was engaged to refloat her. Continuing bad weather hampered salvage work and a series of gales on 13th, 14th and 15th February caused considerable damage to the hull. On the 18th, the salvage company withdrew their offer as the increased amount of work involved in refloating her made their tender uneconomical. No further official salvage work was undertaken until August 1924 when a German contractor commenced salvage work in situ, which continued until 1926. Most of the ship was broken up and removed leaving only a few scattered fragments of the huge ship in the shallow sandy water close to the shore.
On 8th September 2007 a large bronze memorial was dedicated at Lendalfoot.
The scattered remains of the Varyag lie at the north end of Lendalfoot Bay about 400 metres offshore in approximate position 55° 10.925’N, 004° 56.103’W. The wreckage, which consists mainly of a few hull plates and a few structural members, lies on a flat rock and sand seabed. Debris extends over an area around 2000 square metres in depths of 6 to 10 metres. The wreck only rises one or two metres from the seabed. The site is exposed to the prevailing westerly wind and, as such, swell is the major potential problem.
