"Novik" - an armored cruiser of the 2nd rank of the Russian Empire

Launched on August 2, 1900. in 1903 April 2 the cruiser arrived at Port Arthur. On January 28, 1904 during the battle with the Japanese escadre, the crew of "Novik" bravely tried to approach the enemy escadre (according to some sources, even conducted a torpedo attack), but a 203 mm shell hit the cruiser below the waterline and forced the ship to turn back. Participated in the unsuccessful rescue operation of the destroyer "Steregushchii". More than once the cruiser covered the exits of destroyers and gunboats to the sea, participated in the shelling of the coast, occupied by the enemy. After the Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1904 August 10 it broke into the port of Qingdao. Then, having sailed around Japan from the east, he arrived at the port of Korsakov to replenish coal reserves for the further breakthrough to Vladivostok. On August 7, 1904 the cruiser was forced to engage the Japanese cruiser "Tsushima" without being able to replenish its coal reserves. During the 70-minute battle, the cruiser was hit three times below and two above the waterline, as well, as more than ten hits on the superstructures (2 sailors killed, 17 wounded, of whom 2 more sailors died later). In turn, "Novik" also punched one underwater hole, which caused "Tsushima" to list sharply along the axis and was forced to withdraw from the battle to repair the damage. M. F. von Schultz, having received radio interception data about the approaching Japanese armored cruiser "Chitose", ordered the cruiser to be sunk. "Novik" sat on the ground at 11:30 p.m. in the port of Korsakov. "Chitose", which arrived on August 8, shelled the hull of the already sunken Russian cruiser, fired about 100 shots at the parts of "Novik", protruding from the water, and the city. Later, part of the "Novik" crew was evacuated to Vladivostok. After the peace treaty, signed in Portsmouth, the southern part of Sakhalin went to Japan. On July 16, 1906, the Japanese raised "Novik", repaired it, and on July 11, 1908 added it to their fleet, naming it "Sudzuya". In 1913 it was removed from the lists of the fleet and dismantled for scrap metal.

A small, well-designed and richly detailed medium-complexity model of a beautiful ship for intermediate and advanced modellers. Parts are double-sided printed, where needed, screws and a few other parts are printed in bronze metallic paint, there isn't a lot of color to spare as the whole body and superstructures are white (so gluing needs to be done very carefully). The graphic instruction is quite large and detailed, but the drawings could be bigger, the textual instruction is medium-sized, quite detailed and perfectly complements the graphic - in English, Polish, Russian and German.