Rurik was the last armored cruiser to be built for the Imperial Russian Navy. The ship was designed by the British firm Vickers and built in their shipyard, being laid down in 1905 and completed in 1908. She was armed with a main battery of four 254 mm (10 in) guns and a secondary battery of eight 203 mm (8 in) guns; her top speed was rated at 21 knots. Despite her powerful gun armament, Rurik was rendered obsolescent even before she was completed by the advent of the British battlecruisers of the Invincible class, which were more powerfully armed and faster. Her design is nevertheless well regarded and naval historians rate her as one of the best vessels of her type ever built.

The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast enough to outrun any battleship it encountered.