During that period out of service, the Russian Revolution toppled the Imperial government and ultimately led to the Bolshevik seizure of power late that year.

Her hull featured a long forecastle deck that extended to her main mast and incorporated a pronounced ram bow.

[4][6] The ship's propulsion system consisted of two vertical triple-expansion steam engines that drove a pair of screw propellers.

Steam was provided by twenty-eight coal-fired Belleville type water-tube boilers, which were vented through three funnels located amidships.

The turrets were oval-shaped and sat atop a working chamber that handled shells and propellant charges brought up from the magazines below.

[7] In addition to the split hoist arrangement, anti-flash precautions included a sprinkler system in the magazines and provisions to quickly flood them in the event of a serious fire.

[5] The guns fired 225.2 kg (496 lb) armor piercing (AP) or high explosive (HE) shells at a muzzle velocity of 899 m/s (2,950 ft/s).

Underwater protection consisted of a torpedo bulkhead that was 38 mm thick, set back about 3.4 m (11 ft) from the side of the ship.

Structural weaknesses were revealed during gunnery testing in 1907, but the Russian Navy decided to remedy the defects after delivery rather than delay her completion.

[4][12] At the start of World War I in July 1914, Russia had not yet completed its Borodino-class battlecruisers or Gangut-class dreadnought battleships, leaving Rurik and the Bayan-class cruisers as the core of the Baltic Fleet.

[14] At the time, Rurik served as the flagship of Admiral Nikolai Ottovich von Essen, the commander of Russian naval forces in the Baltic.

[16] He sortied with Rurik and the armored cruiser Pallada on 27 August to make a sweep into the western Baltic in the vicinity of Bornholm, Denmark, and Danzig, Germany.

On 12 January 1915, Rurik sortied for another minelaying operation, this time part of the escort force with Bayan and Admiral Makarov.

Over the following two days, three other cruisers laid a series of minefields off the island of Rügen; this was the furthest west the Russian fleet penetrated during the war.

[18][19] Rurik escorted a group of minelayers sent to lay another field off Danzig on 13 February 1915, ran aground east of Gotland, Sweden and was seriously damaged, forcing the Russians to cancel the operation.

Despite taking on 2,400 long tons (2,439 t) of water, with half of her boiler rooms flooded, she was able to free herself and return to Reval under her own power.

[18][20][21] In late June, the Russian naval command planned a bombardment operation to support the garrison at Windau (in what is now Latvia) during a German attack on the port.

Initial plans called for an attack on the city of Rostock, well behind German lines, in part to demonstrate the strength of the Russian fleet, but Vice Admiral Vasily Kanin, who had replaced Essen as the fleet commander, refused to grant permission to send Rurik that far into enemy territory.

[22] According to Paul Halpern, it consisted of the cruisers Admiral Makarov, Bayan, Bogatyr, and Oleg, while Rurik and the destroyer Novik covered them and a group of submarines screened ahead.

[23] But Gary Staff indicates that Rurik, Oleg, and Bogatyr were to conduct the bombardment while Admiral Makarov and Bayan covered them.

Heavy fog forced Bakhirev to cancel the bombardment since they could no longer reliably locate Memel and his cruisers became separated from Rurik and Novik.

In the ensuing Battle of Åland Islands, the Germans turned to flee while the Russian cruisers concentrated on the minelayer SMS Albatross, forcing it ashore.

[26][27] As he began the engagement, Bakhirev ordered Rurik to reinforce him, and at 09:45, she arrived in the vicinity but found no friendly or enemy vessels.

The two ships quickly opened fire, and while Rurik was significantly more powerful than her opponent, she failed to score any hits, while receiving ten herself.

The German 10.5 cm (4.1 in) shells were not powerful enough to penetrate her armor, but they nevertheless temporarily disabled one of her main battery turrets when fumes from an explosion threatened to poison its crew.

The German commander decided to attempt to disengage, using the poor visibility to cover his escape; at around the same time, Russian lookouts spotted what they mistakenly believed to be a U-boat.

The threat of a submarine attack led Rurik to disengage, which gave the Germans enough time to make good their escape.

As a result of the Russian mining effort and Allied submarine attacks, the Germans concluded that they could no longer safely operate capital ships in the Baltic.

[31] Starting in June 1916, Rurik was sent on several sweeps into the Baltic to search for German merchant shipping, but she only found and sank one vessel during these patrols.

As part of the treaty, Russia granted Finland independence, which forced the fleet to abandon its principal base at Helsingfors and return to Kronstadt.