High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Imperatritsa Mariya (Russian: Императрица Мария: Empress Maria) was an Imperatritsa Mariya-class dreadnought of the Imperial Russian Navy, lead ship of her class. Construction began before World War I and she saw service with the Black Sea Fleet during the war. She provided cover for older pre-dreadnought battleships as they bombarded Ottoman facilities, although she engaged the ex-German light cruiser Midilli several times without inflicting anything more serious than splinter damage. Imperatritsa Mariya was sunk at anchor in Sevastopol by a magazine explosion on 20 October 1916. She was subsequently raised, but her condition was very poor, and she was finally scrapped in 1926.