A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head. The royal yacht is most often crewed by personnel from the navy and used by the monarch and their family on both private and official travels.
Leonardo da Vinci was the last of three Conte di Cavour-class dreadnoughts built for the Regia Marina in the early 1910s. Completed just before the beginning of World War I, the ship saw no action and was sunk by a magazine explosion in 1916 with the loss of 248 officers and enlisted men. The Italians blamed Austro-Hungarian saboteurs for her loss, but it may have been accidental. Leonardo da Vinci was refloated in 1919 and plans were made to repair her. Budgetary constraints did not permit this, and her hulk was sold for scrap in 1923.
Kongō was the lead ship of the Kongō-class ironclad corvettes built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the 1870s. The class was built in the United Kingdom because such ships could not yet be constructed in Japan. Completed in 1878, Kongō briefly served with the Small Standing Fleet before becoming a training ship in 1887, thereafter making training cruises to the Mediterranean and to countries on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The ship returned to active duty during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 where she participated in the Battle of Weihaiwei. Kongō resumed her training duties after the war, though she also played a minor role in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. The ship was reclassified as a survey ship in 1906 and was sold for scrap in 1910.
Hiei was the second and last vessel of the Kongō-class ironclad corvettes built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the 1870s. They were built in the United Kingdom because the Japanese were unable to build ironclad warships in Japan. She became a training ship in 1887 and made training cruises to the Mediterranean and to countries on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The ship returned to active duty during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 where she was damaged during the Battle of the Yalu River. Hiei also participated in the Battle of Weihaiwei and the invasion of Formosa in 1895. The ship resumed her training duties after the war, although she played a minor role in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. She was reclassified as a survey ship in 1906 and was sold for scrap in 1912.
Settsu (摂津) was the second and last of the Kawachi-class dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the first decade of the 20th century. Following the Japanese ship-naming conventions, Settsu was named after Settsu Province, now a part of Osaka prefecture. During World War I she bombarded German fortifications at Qingdao during the siege of Qingdao in 1914, but saw no other combat. She was placed in reserve in 1919 and was disarmed in 1922 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.
Petropavlovsk was the third of the four Gangut-class dreadnoughts built before World War I for the Imperial Russian Navy, the first Russian class of dreadnoughts. She was named after the Russian victory in the siege of Petropavlovsk during the Crimean War. The ship was completed during the winter of 1914–1915, but was not ready for combat until mid-1915. Her role was to defend the mouth of the Gulf of Finland against the Germans, who never tried to enter, so she spent her time training and providing cover for minelaying operations. Her crew joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet after the February Revolution of 1917 and she was the only dreadnought available to the Bolsheviks for several years after the October Revolution of 1917. She bombarded the mutinous garrison of Fort Krasnaya Gorka and supported Bolshevik light forces operating against British ships supporting the White Russians in the Gulf of Finland in 1918–1919. Later, her crew joined the Kronstadt Rebellion of 1921 and she was renamed Marat after the rebellion was crushed.
Katori was the lead ship of the two Katori-class pre-dreadnought battleships built in the first decade of the 20th century, the last to be built by British shipyards for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Ordered just before the start of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the ship was completed a year after its end. She saw no combat during World War I, although the ship was present when Japan joined the Siberian Intervention in 1918. Katori was disarmed and scrapped in 1923–1925 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.
Ryūjō, was a British-built ironclad corvette of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). She was purchased on behalf of a Japanese daimyo or clan lord in 1870 who donated the ship to the fledgling IJN shortly after receiving the ship. As the largest ship in the IJN Ryūjō was frequently visited by the Emperor Meiji and was used to escort a diplomatic mission to Imperial China. She played minor roles in suppressing several of the rebellions that plagued Japan in the 1870s.
HMS Adventure, pennant number M23, was an Adventure-class minelaying cruiser of the Royal Navy built in the 1920s that saw service during the Second World War. Her commander between 1928 and 1929 was the future First Sea Lord John H. D. Cunningham. Laid down at Devonport in November 1922 and launched in June 1924, Adventure was the first vessel built for service as a minelayer; she was also the first warship to use diesel engines, which were used for cruising. Adventure first joined the Atlantic Fleet, then was transferred to the China Station in 1935. In World War II, the ship was damaged in 1941 and 1944, and was converted to a landing craft repair in 1944. In 1945 Adventure was reduced to reserve and in 1947 she was sold and broken up for scrap.
USS Ozark (LSV–2/CM-7/AP-107/MCS-2) was a Catskill-class vehicle landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for the native American Ozark tribe of the Quapaw confederacy, she was the third U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
The Italian auxiliary cruiser Ramb III was built at Genoa by Ansaldo in 1938.
SMY Hohenzollern was the name of several yachts used by the German Emperors between 1878 and 1918, named after their House of Hohenzollern.
Kalinin (Калинин) was one of six Kirov-class cruisers built for the Soviet Navy in the Russian Far East from components shipped from European Russia during World War II. The ship was one of the last pair constructed, known as the Project 26bis2 subclass. Completed at the end of 1942 and assigned to the Pacific Fleet, she saw no action during the Soviet–Japanese War in 1945 and served into the Cold War. Sometimes serving as a flagship, her post-war career was uneventful until she was disarmed and converted into a floating barracks in 1960. She was scrapped in the early 1960s.
A net laying ship, also known as a net layer, net tender, gate ship or boom defence vessel was a type of naval auxiliary ship.
Kaganovich was a Project 26bis2 Kirov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy that was built during World War II. She was built in Siberia from components shipped from European Russia. She saw no action during the war and served into the Cold War. She was renamed Lazar Kaganovich in 1945 to distinguish her from Lazar's disgraced brother Mikhail Kaganovich. Her post-war career was generally uneventful, although her superstructure was badly damaged by a Force 12 typhoon in 1957. She was renamed Petropavlovsk in 1957. Sources disagree on her fate; some say that she was converted into a floating barracks in 1960 and later sold for scrap while another says that she was simply sold for scrap in 1960.
Andrei Pervozvanny was an Andrei Pervozvanny-class predreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy during the early-1900s. The ship's construction was greatly delayed by design changes as a result of the Russo-Japanese War and labor unrest after the 1905 Revolution, and she took nearly six years to build. Andrei Pervozvanny was not very active during World War I and her bored sailors joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet in early 1917. She was used by the Bolsheviks to bombard the rebellious garrison of Fort Krasnaya Gorka in 1919 during the Russian Civil War and was torpedoed by British Coastal Motor Boats shortly afterwards, as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The ship was never fully repaired and was scrapped in 1923.
The cruiserBogatyr, launched 1901, was the lead ship of the Bogatyr class of four protected cruisers built between 1898 and 1907 for the Imperial Russian Navy.
Otvazhny was a Soviet Kashin-class destroyer built for the Black Sea Fleet during the 1960s. She sank on 30 August 1974 after a defective anti-aircraft missile launched during Black Sea Fleet drills ignited a fire which resulted in the explosion of the ship magazines.
The Dalmat was a yacht of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Royal Yugoslav Navy, Regia Marina and the Yugoslav Navy. Built as Ossero in Trieste in 1896 she was transferred to the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1899 and in 1901 renamed Dalmat. In 1914 she helped transport Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria to Sarajevo. After Ferdinand's assassination she carried his body back to Trieste. Dalmat was transferred to the Royal Yugoslav Navy in 1920 following the Dissolution of Austria-Hungary. She was captured by the Axis in 1941 and served the Italians as Fata. The vessel reverted to the Yugoslav Navy in 1943 following the Armistice of Cassibile and was renamed Vila. She remained in service under the communist government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, being renamed Orjen in 1945 and Istranka in 1954. Sometime after 1972 she was decommissioned and became a floating restaurant. She was put up for sale in 1998 but lay derelict in a Croatian shipyard until purchased and restored by Italian politician Gianfranco Cozzi. Cozzi was denied permission to sail the vessel from Croatia in 2003. The vessel remains in Split harbour where it has twice sunk due to lack of maintenance.
Russian Empire 
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