[4] The main battery of the Borodinos consisted of four 12-inch (305 mm) Pattern 1895 guns which were mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure.

The ship was laid down on 8 September, when the ceremonial laying of one of the plates was performed by Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, General-Admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy.

[8] She was launched on 25 September 1902,[2] in the presence of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Grand Duke Konstantin, and King George I of Greece.

[12] Rozhestvensky had received numerous reports of Japanese agents and torpedo boats disguised as fishing vessels before sailing and he ordered maximum alertness after coaling at Skagen, Denmark, on 7 October.

Early on the evening of the following day, when the squadron was near the Dogger Bank, the auxiliary repair ship Kamchatka reported that she was under attack by torpedo boats in the rain.

About four hours later, the squadron encountered British fishing trawlers working the Dogger Bank in the fog and opened fire on them at very short range.

[16] While exact figures are not available, it is probable that Knyaz Suvorov was approximately 1,700 long tons (1,727 t) overweight, as she and her sisters were overloaded with coal and other supplies, all of which was stored high in the ships and reduced their stability.

[17] Rozhestvensky decided to take the most direct route to Vladivostok using the Tsushima Strait and was intercepted by the Japanese battlefleet under the command of Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō on 27 May 1905.

During this maneuver, Knyaz Suvorov opened fire at the Japanese battleship Mikasa, flagship of Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō at 14:05, at a range of 6,300 yards (5,800 m).

By this time, Knyaz Suvorov's aft 12-inch gun turret had been destroyed by an explosion that blew its roof off onto the quarterdeck, her forward funnel had fallen down, and her mainmast had been shot away.

[20] Knyaz Suvorov never regained her position in the battle line and was engaged at short range by Mikasa and the battleship Shikishima as well as five cruisers of Vice Admiral Kamimura Hikonojō's 2nd Division between 15:20 and 15:35.

Around 15:40, the British observer aboard Azuma recorded that Knyaz Suvorov was down by the bow with a heavy list to port and was covered by thick gray smoke from the forecastle to the mainmast.

[24] Around 17:30, the Russian destroyer Buinyi came and took off the wounded officers from Knyaz Suvorov, including Rozhestvensky, leaving an unwounded midshipman in command.

One was thought to have caused a magazine to explode as a cloud of yellow and black smoke poured out and Knyaz Suvorov listed further to port before capsizing at about 19:30.

[3] Naval historian Sir Julian Corbett commented: "While she had a gun above water she fired, and not a man survived her of all that crew, to whose stubborn gallantry no words can do justice.