The Marat was the third of the Gangut-class dreadnoughts built for the Imperial Russian Navy before WWI. The Gangut class was the first dreadnought class used by Russia. Initially named Petropavlovsk after the Siege of Petropavlovsk during the Crimean War, the ship was renamed after her crew mutinied during the Kronstadt Rebellion. Her new name was Marat, after the French revolutionary politician Jean-Paul Marat. After the October Revolution of 1917, she participated in the civil war against the White Russians and British ships in the Gulf of Finland. Between 1928 and 1931, she underwent a major refit in which her coal-fired boilers were replaced with oil-fired ones, her anti-aircraft battery was strengthened, and her funnel was cut down and angled backwards to reduce exhaust smoke obscuring view. New rangefinders were also installed to improve her accuracy. In 1937, she participated in the Coronation Review in Britain. During the Winter War, she took part in the shelling of the Finnish coastline.

On 8th September 1941, she was shelling German positions around Leningrad and suffered minor damage. On 23rd September 1941, she sank at her moorings in Kronstadt after being attacked by Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers of III./StG 2 led by Hans-Ulrich Rudel. Rudel scored one of the two 1,000 kg bomb hits that proved fatal, as the forward magazine detonated, killing 326 crew members and causing the ship to sink 11 metres deep into the water. She was partially refloated and served as a floating battery, shelling German positions around Leningrad. On 31st May 1943, her original name of Petropavlovsk was restored. After the war, there were plans to repair her, but these did not come to fruition. In November 1950, she was renamed Volkhov and served as a training ship until 1953. She was broken up shortly afterwards.

The Marat was introduced in Update 2.29 "Sons of Attila" as a pack premium and was removed from the store after the 2024 Winter sales. The Marat is the premium version of the Parizskhaya Kommuna and plays very similarly. Unlike the Kommuna, the Marat is 2 km/h faster as it is lighter, as well as having a heavier medium-calibre anti-aircraft battery but a weaker small-calibre one. It possesses a powerful SAP shell for use against destroyers and cruisers, as well as an APCBC round for engaging battleships, although these are somewhat lacking compared to other navies' armour-piercing shells. The Marat can take quite a beating as it sits very low in the water, which in turn protects the magazines and machinery from close-range fire, though not from long-range plunging fire.