A postcard with the image of the 1st rank cruiser Bayan

The original photo postcard is in excellent condition. Rare. Guarantee of authenticity. 

Bayan was an armored cruiser of the Russian Imperial Navy of the same type, which took part in the First World War. Named in memory of the cruiser sunk in Port Arthur.

After the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Imperial Navy found itself without a functioning and planned shipbuilding program. At the same time, the fleet was in dire need of replenishing the thinned ship's complement. On November 10, 1904, the governor of the Maritime Ministry decided to build in St. Petersburg cruisers of the "improved Bayan type" according to the drawings of the lead cruiser of the series - Admiral Makarov. Its construction was carried out by the French firm Forges et Chantiers, which provided technical documentation for the construction of two other ships in Russia — Bayan and Pallada. The beginning of the construction of the cruisers was financed by loans received by the Maritime Ministry to make up for the loss of the naval personnel of the First Pacific Squadron after the outbreak of war and the first losses of the fleet. Bayan was enlisted in the lists of ships of the Baltic Fleet on April 15, 1905, and laid down on August 15, 1905 at the boathouse of the New Admiralty in St. Petersburg. She was launched on August 2, 1907 and entered service on July 1, 1911.

The cruiser differed from the first Bayan; the most significant differences were: the redesign of the reservation, the possibility of cleaning combat searchlights during the daytime under the protection of armor, the expansion of the network of communication pipes, the installation of special seals for all cables and wires passing through waterproof bulkheads, the replacement of wooden cabinets in utility rooms with metal ones, and so on.

During the First World War, Bayan was part of the 1st Cruiser Brigade of the Baltic Fleet. Since the beginning of the war, he has been covering mine installations in the Gulf of Finland. He first entered battle on August 4 (17), 1914, together with the cruiser Admiral Makarov against the light German cruiser Augsburg (following the results of the battle, for lack of initiative, Fleet commander N. O. Essen dismissed the commander of the cruiser Admiral Makarov and the entire detachment of Russian ships K. I. Stepanov). On August 24, with the cruiser Pallada, he participated in a battle against a superior detachment of German ships, evading their fire by maneuvering. In early December 1914, he cruised in the Gulf of Bothnia. He participated in the Gotland naval battle on June 19, 1915, in which he received his first hit by an enemy shell from the cruiser Roon, which caused minor damage.

From the end of 1916 to the summer of 1917, the ship was re-equipped at the factory of the Russian-Baltic Shipbuilding and Mechanical Joint Stock Company in Reval (the artillery of the main calibers was strengthened and the small artillery was almost completely removed).

On October 17, 1917, as part of the detachment ("Bayan", "Glory", "Citizen") under the banner of the chief of the naval forces of the Gulf of Riga, Rear Admiral M. K. Bakhirev, he participated in a battle against a detachment of German ships during the Monozund operation. Since May 1918, it has been in conservation in the port of Petrograd. Eight dismantled 152-mm guns from the cruiser were installed on the floating batteries of the Onega military Flotilla, which took part in the Civil War. Sold on July 1, 1922 to the Russian-German joint stock company Derumetall, towed to Germany in the autumn of 1922 and was dismantled in Stettin. It was excluded from the lists of ships of the Red Army on November 25, 1925.