After the collapse of White Russia in the Crimea, The Battleship General Alekseev (former Imperator Aleksandr III) made its way with fleet of refugee ships to Bizerte, in the French colony of Tunisia. Alekseev was interned there by the French until 1924. The French and the Soviets couldn’t come to an agreement with respect to repatriation of the ship, in part because of its poor condition, and in part because of French demands for back payment of docking fees.
Her St Andrews Ensign was hauled down 29 October, 1924.