Petr Velikiy was an ironclad-type warship, which was in service with the Imperial Russian Navy from 1877 to 1921. She was designed by Admiral Andrei A. Popov and built under his direction. She was propelled by steam engines but also by sails. She was laid down in St. Petersburg's shipyards in 1869, launched in 1872, and commissioned in 1877. Her water displacement was 10,100 tons. This ironclad ship could cruise at the maximum speed of 28 km per hour (16 knots). Her range was 6,700 km (3,600 miles), sailing at 11 knots. The main artillery consisted of four 305-mm naval guns mounted in two twin turrets, and its armor was up to 356 mm in thickness.
At the time Petr Velikiy had entered service with the Russian Navy, she was one of the fastest warships in the world. She was able to attack enemy shipping both in open sea and threaten enemy ports. However, by 1904, the year of the Russo-Japanese War, she had already become an obsolete warship as she had been permanently assigned to the Baltic Fleet. The ship's hull was subdivided by one centerline longitudinal, nine transverse and two wing watertight bulkheads. The machinery was built by the Scottish firm Baird Works for the price of 1,019,000 rubles. The two steam engines were fed by twelve boilers, whose combustion gases were exhausted through one funnel. She was fitted with three sail masts.
In terms of its performance, the Petr Velikiy was the first big Russian oceangoing ironclad to surpass the ships of foreign navies, and it became the prototype of the squadron armorclads of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1906, she became an artillery training ship. When the October Revolution broke out, the crew of the Petr Velikiy warship actively participated in the revolutionary movement of 1917 and the ensuing civil war. The armorclad became a submarine tender after the Ice Campaign of the Baltic Fleet of 1918 and a ship of a training detachment of the Baltic Fleet in December 1918. It was dropped from the navy lists after the Civil War.
Specifications
Type: ironclad warship
Displacement:10,100 tons; 10,600 tons (full-loaded)
Length: 101.7 m (333 feet, 8 inches)
Beam: 19.2 m (63 feet)
Draft: 7.5 m (24 feet, 9 inches)
Propulsion System: 2 horizontal-return steam engines, with two shafts, fed by 12 rectangular boilers, generating 8,258 sHP.
Maximum Speed: 16 knots
Range: 6,700 km (3,600 miles)
Armor: 356 mm on belt.
Armament: four 305-mm naval guns in two twin turrets; six 4-pounder (84-mm) guns.
Complement: 441 officers and sailors
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| Petr Velikiy around 1903. |
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| A lithographic image of the ironclad Petr Velikiy. |