The ship was assigned to the Baltic Fleet and spent the early part of her career deployed in the Mediterranean and in the Far East.

Several months after the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in February 1904, she was assigned to the 2nd Pacific Squadron to relieve the Russian forces blockaded in Port Arthur.

During the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, she was sunk by Japanese destroyers which spread twenty-four linked mines across her path during the night.

They had a total designed output of 9,000 indicated horsepower (6,700 kW) using steam provided by 12 cylindrical fire-tube boilers at a pressure of 9.4 atm (952 kPa; 138 psi).

Trials of the first batch of boilers in May 1891 showed that they could not maintain the designed steam pressure due to flaws in their construction.

On her final set of sea trials in November 1895, Navarin reached a top speed of 15.85 knots (29.35 km/h; 18.24 mph).

She carried a maximum of 1,200 long tons (1,200 t) of coal that provided a range of 3,050 nautical miles (5,650 km; 3,510 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

[3] The ship's main battery consisted of four 35-caliber 12-inch (305 mm) Obukhov Model 1886 guns mounted in hydraulically powered twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure.

[9] Navarin, named after the Battle of Navarino,[10] was ordered on 24 April 1889 from the Franco-Russian Works and construction began on 13 July 1889 at their Saint Petersburg shipyard.

Construction was seriously delayed by problems with the boilers and late deliveries of armor plates, the gun mountings, and other components, compounded by inefficiencies in building.

Together with the battleship Sissoi Veliky, the ship was ordered to the Far East in early 1898 and arrived at Port Arthur on 28 March.

Navarin and Sissoi Veliky, together with a number of cruisers, sailed for the Baltic on 25 December 1901 and arrived at the port of Libau in early May 1902.

During this refit, Navarin received 4.5-foot (1.4 m) Barr & Stroud rangefinders, telescopic gun sights and Telefunken radio equipment.

[12] On 15 October 1904, she set sail for Port Arthur from Libau along with the other vessels of the Second Pacific Squadron, under the command of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky.

[15] The two forces reunited at the island of Nosy Be on 9 January 1905 where they remained for two months while Rozhestvensky finalized his coaling arrangements.

Von Fölkersam, ill with cancer, died on 26 May and Rozhestvensky decided not to inform the fleet in order to keep morale up.