Russian Imperial Navy auxiliary cruisers Don and Ural passing Kronborg castle in 1904

Russian Imperial Navy auxiliary cruisers Don and Ural passing Kronborg in 1904.

During the Russo-Japanese war in 1904 - 1905 quite a number of Russian Imperial Navy ships passed through Øresund on their way to the far away war zone. The picture above, by Kaiser Wilhelm II's favorite naval painter Willy Stöwer, shows the Russian auxiliary cruisers Don (ex-German liner Fürst Bismarck)  and Ural (ex-German liner Kaiserin Maria Theresia and Spree) passing Kronborg castle in 1904. 

In October 1904 Ural joined admiral Rozhesvensky's Second Pacific Squadron in the Far East. The Ural, which was the first ship to sight the Japanese fleet at Thushima in May 1905, was sunk by the Japanese. 

The Don survived the war and was later sold to the Austrian Navy and converted to submarine base Gaa. In 1919 it was seized by Italy and in 1924 it was reconstructed as liner San Giusto.