a muzzle velocity of . At an elevation of +6° the guns had a range . All eight of the 45-caliber, Canet Pattern 1891 guns were mounted in twin-gun turrets on the main deck. Each turret was positioned at a corner of the superstructure and had an arc of fire of 110°. They fired shells that weighed with a muzzle velocity of . They had a maximum range of when fired at an elevation of +20°. The anti-torpedo boat armament consisted of twelve Hotchkiss guns. Eight of these were mounted in the superstructure and the locations of the remaining four are unclear. They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of . The ship also mounted sixteen Hotchkiss guns, eight of which were carried in the fighting top. The locations of the other eight are unknown. They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of . Rostislav carried six torpedo tubes. The bow and stern tubes and the aft pair of broadside tubes were above water. The forward broadside tubes were underwater. The ship carried 50 mines to be used to protect her anchorage. Protection The maximum thickness of the Rostislavs waterline belt was , tapering to abreast the magazines. It covered of the ship's length and was high. While the exact height of the belt above the designed waterline is unknown, much of it, if not all, would have been below the waterline as the ship's draft was over deeper than designed. The belt terminated forward in a transverse bulkhead and aft in a bulkhead. The upper belt was 5 inches thick, high and covered of the ship's side. The sides of the main gun turrets were 10 inches thick and they had roofs. The sides of the 6-inch turrets were 6 inches thick as were the sides of the conning tower. The armor deck was flat and located at the upper edge of the main belt. It was thick. Below the waterline, forward and aft of the armored citadel, were decks. Construction Work on Rostislav commenced on January 30, 1894. The ship was officially christened May 20, 1894; in line with Russian tradition, the formal laying down ceremony was delayed until May 19, 1895. The contract for oil-firing boilers and engines was awarded to Baltic Works. The armor was rolled in the United States by Bethlehem Steel within the framework of an earlier contract for s. Bethlehem Steel