The
Imperial Russian Navy was the navy of the
Russian Empire, it existed from 1696 until the
February Revolution of 1917, growing out of a smaller force that existed before
Peter the Great founded the regular Russian Navy during the
Second Azov campaign. It was expanded in the second half of the 18th century and by the early part of the 19th century had reached its peak strength, only behind the British and French fleets in terms of size. The navy then went into a period of decline due to Russia's slow technical and economic development in the first half of the 19th century but it underwent a revival in the latter part of the century during the reign of Tsar
Nicholas II until most of its
Pacific Fleet was destroyed in the disastrous
Russo-Japanese War. The
First World War was mixed for the navy, with the
Germans generally gaining the upper hand in the Baltic but the Black Sea falling under Russian control. The
Russian Revolution marked the end of the Imperial Navy with its sailors fighting on both sides and its surviving ships forming the core of the
Soviet Navy upon its creation in 1918.