The yacht “Standart” served the Romanov family for 20 years. It was one of the most beautiful and elegant ships of its time, a true floating palace with countless cabins for the royal family, their friends, and servants. Onboard, there was a dining room for 75 people, the monarch’s study, a ship’s chapel, and many other rooms for the needs of the ruling dynasty. Officer Nikolai Sablin, who served aboard, recalled that the yacht’s interior was “done in a strictly English style, with no gold, ornaments, or stucco work, but this simplicity, this good taste, looked far richer than any luxury or splendor.” The entire ship served as a giant playground for Nicholas II’s children, whose safety was overseen by specially assigned sailors known as “uncles.” For the entertainment of the adults, there was always a brass band and balalaika players on board. The deck featured eight 47-mm Hotchkiss guns, from which fireworks were launched. Many European monarchs and heads of state were welcomed aboard the “Standart.” The German Emperor Wilhelm II was particularly impressed with the ship. He hinted to Nicholas that he would love to receive it as a gift, but the tsar ignored this suggestion. In the Soviet era, the former imperial yacht was converted into a mine-laying vessel, later used as a floating barracks, and eventually as a target for missile exercises by the Soviet Navy. In the mid-1960s, the ship was dismantled for scrap metal.