The Pasch (Easter) egg with a model of a yacht STANDART (sometimes given as SHTANDART) was made by G. Vigstrem in 1909. It was a present of the Emperor Nikolay II to the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna on Easter 1909.
(Gold, silver, diamonds, rock-crystal, azure stone, enamel, relief work, glyptography), inside the egg there is a golden model of the Emperor yacht STANDARD built in Copenhagen in 1896.
Built as a steel hulled 3-masted yacht by Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen for Tsar Nikolay II.
1893 Keel laid down.
21 March 1895 launched under the name STANDART.
Tonnage 4.334 tons, displacement 5.557 ton. Dim. 420 x 50.4 x 20ft. (draught), length bpp. 370ft.
Powered by two B&W 6-cyl. steam engines, 10.600 shp., speed 18 knots. Steam was supplied by Belleville boilers. Two funnels
September 1896 in service.
At that time she was the biggest and most impressive royal yacht
She was superbly equipped, with state rooms and saloons, a chapel and children room.
Outside used as yacht by the Tsar and his family, she was also used for formal occasions, like the reception of European diplomats and for state visits.
1907 She ran aground on an uncharted rock off the Finnish coast, refloated although damaged she was repaired.
After the fall and the murder of the Romanov Dynasty the STANDART was put in naval service, renamed VOSEMNADTSATE MARTZA, later renamed in MARTI or MARTY
1936 Converted in a minelayer at Leningrad.
Displacement 6.189 tons, dim. 122.3 x 15.39 x 6.97m. (draught)
Armament: 4 – 130mm, 7 – 76.2mm, 4 – 45mmAA guns, 2 MG, carried 320 mines.
In the Baltic Fleet.
By the outbreak of the war between the Soviet Union and Germany on 23 June 1941, the MARTY left port and commenced with laying mines in the Gulf of Finland.
23 September 1941 she came during an air raid by German planes on Kronstadt under heavy attack, she got on fire which was quickly extinguished.
2 November 1941 while she took part in the evacuation of the Russian troops from Hango, she hit a mine and was damaged, but rescued 2.029 troops, 60 guns, 11 mortars from the town, which was under siege of Finish and German troops.
After the war she was converted in a training vessel and renamed OKA.
1963 Scrapped at Tallinn, Estonia.
SG6549
Source: Royal Yachts of Europe by Riginald Crabtree. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standart_(yacht)