Its short career during the Russo-Japanese War was plagued with unfortunate incidents, which ended in its sinking at the Battle of Tsushima.

Kamchatka played a role in causing the Dogger Bank incident, where the Second Pacific Squadron opened fire on unarmed British fishing trawlers.

At about 21:00 on the night of October 21, 1904, Kamchatka radioed that it was being attacked by eight Japanese destroyers or torpedo boats.

On 25 December 1904 while the fleet was sailing between Lüderitz Bay and Nosy Boraha the Kamchatka sent a signal to the Russian battleship Knyaz Suvorov that was interpreted by the Suvorov as “do you see the torpedo boat” causing some alarm until the signal was correctly understood.

[2] While stopping in Madagascar, several ships in the fleet acquired several local predatory animals, Kamchatka being no exception.