The Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 was designed to reflect lessons learned from the Russo-Japanese War and despite changes in specifications while the guns were being manufactured they were considered excellent pieces.

In April 1906 a conference of twenty admirals and specialists in ship and ordnance design met to determine what the specifications of the new fleet being built to replace the losses suffered during the Russo-Japanese War would be.

These triple gun turrets were designated "MK-3-12", and were deployed aboard the Gangut-class and Imperatritsa Mariya-class and they were placed on the Imperator Nikolai I (although her propulsion was never installed and she was never completed) dreadnoughts in mountings constructed by the Metallicheskii Works.

[2] The gun originally envisioned was 12in/50 caliber, weighing 47.3 t (52.1 short tons), with a 331 kg (730 lb) shell, at a muzzle velocity of 914 m/s (3,000 ft/s).

Since the requirement for new battleships was so urgent, work began before range testing could determine the appropriate shell weight, muzzle velocity or chamber pressure for the new guns.

[4] Allowable barrel life for pieces mounted aboard Black Sea Fleet units was 400 rounds per gun.

They were disabled by Soviet seamen when the base was evacuated, and were later restored by Finnish specialists using guns from the withdrawn Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III.