Russian Guns for the German Battery On English Land-- Part 1: The Imperator Aleksandr III

Last week I wrote about the German battery on the British Channel Island of Guernsey that had its main 14-inch guns that had been on a Russian battleship. I decided to find out some more about that battleship.

From Wikipedia.

The Russian battleship IMPERATOR ALEKSANDR III had an interesting history. It was begun before World War I, completed in 1917 and served in the Russian Black Sea fleet during the war. There were several Russian ships by the name Imperator Aleksandr, but this is the one the guns came from.

It was later renamed Volia, or Volya, which means freedom in Russian. The ship was surrendered to Germany in 1918 who then turned it over to the British under terms of the Armistice. The British then turned the ship over to the White Russians in 1919 during the Russian Revolution. The ship helped evacuate the White Russian from Crimea in 1920 when the Red Russians took control of the country.

--GreGen