ASKOLD

Sister ships:  none

Notes:  One of very few ships ever built with five funnels, ASKOLD was flush-decked with a short forward superstructure that did not reach her bow.  One of the 6" guns was mounted on this, and the rest on the upper deck level; one aft, and five on each broadside.  The 11-pounders were at the main deck level.  ASKOLD was generally regarded as the fastest of the Russian cruisers.

During the Russo-Japanese war, ASKOLD was interred at Shanghai following action at the Battle of Round Island.  Following her return to Russian service in 1906, she served as the flagship of the Siberian Flotilla.  During World War I, ASKOLD served in the Mediterranean; while serving in the Dardanelles operation, she earned the nickname "Packet of Woodbines" (for her five tall, thin funnels) by her British allies.  In 1916, ASKOLD was designated for service in the Arctic; she sailed first to Toulon, then to Britain for a refit.  Two 11-pounders (in the bow) were removed, as were all of the 3-pounders; they were replaced by two 47mm AA guns.  Her 15" TT were removed as well, and replaced by four 18" TT.  Also, mine rails and depth charge racks were fitted.  ASKOLD arrived in the Arctic in September, 1917, where her crew came completely under Bolshevik influence in December, 1917.  She was seized by the British on 14 July 1918, and commissioned into the Royal Navy as GLORY IV on 3 August 1918.  She was returned to the Russians in 1921 and was almost immediately sold for scrap to Germany, where she was broken up in 1922.

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