[2] Imperator Aleksandr II had two three-cylinder vertical compound steam engines driving 17-foot (5.2 m) screw propellers.

Her engines were built by Baltic Works and had a total designed output of 8,500 indicated horsepower (6,338 kW).

On trials, the powerplant produced 8,289 ihp (6,181 kW), and a top speed of 15.27 knots (28.28 km/h; 17.57 mph).

The four 9-inch (229 mm) Obukhov Model 1877 35-calibre guns were on center-pivot mounts in casemates at the corners of the citadel, the hull being recessed to increase their arcs of fire ahead or behind.

The ten 47-millimetre (1.9 in) Hotchkiss revolving cannon were mounted in hull embrasures of the ship between the nine and six-inch guns to defend against torpedo boats.

[4] Imperator Aleksandr II served in the Baltic Fleet and along with the cruiser Rurik represented Russia at the opening of the Kiel Canal in Germany in June 1895.

On 21 February 1897, she joined the British battleship HMS Revenge and torpedo gunboats HMS Dryad and HMS Harrier, the Austro-Hungarian armored cruiser SMS Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia, and the German protected cruiser SMS Kaiserin Augusta in the International Squadron's first direct offensive action, a brief bombardment of Cretan insurgent positions on the heights east of Canea (now Chania) after the insurgents refused the squadron's order to take down a Greek flag they had raised.

Her crew refused to suppress the mutinous garrison of Fort Konstantin defending Kronstadt in August 1906.