[1] Single ships were also ordered from the German shipyards Germaniawerft (Askold) and AG Vulcan (Bogatyr) against these specifications.

Twelve 75 mm (2.95 in) L/50 QF guns defended the ship against torpedo boats, and could fire a 6 kg (13 lb) shell to a range of 7,000 m (23,000 ft) at a rate of 10 rounds per minute.

[3]During her construction, an assistant physician, Leo Alexandroff, left the ship's advance party on 20 April 1899, and applied for U.S. citizenship.

[8] At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, under the command of Captain Vsevolod Rudnev, Varyag was stationed at Chemulpo Bay with the aging gunboat Korietz.

As Chemulpo was in neutral Korean waters, Admiral Uriu gave the Russian ships a written ultimatum to sail by 12:00 noon or be attacked in the harbor itself.

From 14 March 1909 to 7 August 1909, it made a long distance navigational and officer cadet training cruise to Hawaii and North America.

She was sent to Liverpool in Great Britain for an overhaul by Cammell Laird in February 1917, and was due to re-enter service with the Arctic Ocean Flotilla of the Imperial Russian Navy.

However, following the Russian October Revolution on 7 November 1917, crewmen who had remained onboard hoisted the red flag and refused to set sail.

She was then sold to a German firm in 1920 for scrap, but on 5 February 1920 ran aground on rocks near the Scottish village of Lendalfoot (55°11′03″N 04°56′30″W / 55.18417°N 4.94167°W / 55.18417; -4.94167) in the Firth of Clyde, while being towed to Germany.

[15][16] On 8 September 2007 a monument in the form of a large bronze cross was unveiled as an addition to the Lendalfoot memorial, in a ceremony attended by former Nato Secretary General George Robertson, British and Russian navy officers and diplomats.

[citation needed] In 2010, as a gesture marking the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Russia, the flag of Varyag was restored.

The Japanese Navy recovered the flag when the ship was salvaged; and the Incheon Metropolitan Museum acquired them after Japan's defeat at the end of World War II.

The return of the flag takes the form of a two-year renewable loan because of the Korean law protecting cultural assets.