[2] The ship's hull was subdivided by ten transverse bulkheads and she had a double bottom 1.73 metres (5 ft 8 in) deep.

The engines produced 7,044 indicated horsepower (5,253 kW) during sea trials which gave the ship a maximum speed around 15.8 knots (29.3 km/h; 18.2 mph).

Vladimir Monomakh carried 900 long tons (910 t)[6] of coal which gave her an economical range of 6,200 nautical miles (11,500 km; 7,100 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

[9] Construction began on Vladimir Monomakh on 22 February 1881 at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, although the formal keel-laying ceremony was not held until 21 May.

She made port visits in Kristiansand, Norway and Portland Harbour, England before reaching Malta on 25 November.

The ship spent most of the next six weeks in Greek waters before arriving at Port Said, Egypt on 12 January 1885 to transit the Suez Canal.

Vladimir Monomakh encountered the British ironclad battleship HMS Agamemnon there and was followed by her all the way to Japan as tensions were rising between Great Britain and Russia in early 1885.

For example, Vladimir Monomakh visited Manila, Singapore, Hong Kong, Batavia, Dutch East Indies and Penang Island between November 1885 and March 1886.

Once at Vladivostok, Captain Oskar Stark was appointed commander of the ship and Vladimir Monomakh was overhauled through August.

She wintered over again at Nagasaki, departing for Europe on 23 April 1892 and reached Kronstadt in August, where the ship was given a thorough refit beginning on 22 September.

The heavy sailing rig was replaced by three signal masts, her funnels were fixed in place, and her boilers were also upgraded.

She reached the Chinese treaty port of Chefoo on 16 April and became the flagship of Rear Admiral Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev, 2nd in command of the Pacific Fleet, on 13 May.

Vladimir Monomakh remained at Chefoo until late in the year before sailing to Vladivostok and then to Kobe, Japan in January 1896.

After the Triple Intervention expelled the Japanese from Port Arthur, Vladimir Monomakh was part of the Russian force which subsequently occupied that strategic harbor.

In December 1901, she rendezvoused with Dmitri Donskoy at Hong Kong, and the two ships returned to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal.

The next morning, however, Vladimir Monomakh headed towards Tsushima Island and began to unload her wounded into her surviving boats.