Imperial Navy: 1893

Authorized by Congress as part of the Columbian celebrations, both American and foreign warships assembled at Hampton Roads, VA in April, 1893, then set sail for New York harbor where the review took place. Later the sailors would march in NYC. Hopefully, these sailors got to see a bit of Virginia and NYC as part of their trip. Despite their spit and polish appearance, the Russian navy was soundly defeated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/05. This war also alerted the West that Japan had become a naval power.

See more here.

- and on each other.

Retired U.S. Navy guy here, just made my account today to post this, I have been lurking since I found this wonderful site this past week. That said, I thought I would point out what I see.

My guess is this would be the deck division of this ship if the hierarchical structures are similar enough to our modern Navy. You can see four sailors with boatswain's pipes around their necks, with the guy on the crown of that hatch in his socks as being the senior boatswain's mate, due to what appears to me as crossed anchors on his left shoulder. I say senior because he is up front and has the steely eyed look of someone in charge, I have seen that look before. That would make him a designated boatswain's mate.

The others with pipes could be as well, but I am thinking most would be undesignated seamen, assigned to deck division. The gentleman with the very fine moustache and beard at the back left is also in a designated rating but I can't make that one out. The one in the center back has crossed cannons on his shoulder, designating him into the gunners mate rating. You can see other rating badges in this image as well, another gunner two people behind boats sitting there in his socks.

All of this is based on the structure that I was in for 20 years for the U.S. Navy, so I am sure that it is different to some degrees for the Russian Imperial Navy of 1893. But based on what I see I think my guesstimation of what is in this great image, would have many similarities. Once again, I love this site!

Granted, this is for a naval review, but it is such a stark contrast to some Shorpy American naval posts from this period.

Their hats give the name of their ship: "Рында," or the "Rynda." This was an Russian Imperial Navy screw corvette, a kind of cruiser with both sails and propeller, launched in 1885.

It's "Rynda" [Bell] corvette. It was built in 1886, and scrapped in 1922.