The Admiral Lazarev class was a pair of monitor

Monitor (warship)

A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...

s built for the Imperial Russian Navy

Imperial Russian Navy

The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...

 in the late 1860s (designated frigates by the navy). Four ships were ordered, but the last two were significantly modified and became the separate Admiral Spiridov

Admiral Spiridov class monitor

The Admiral Spiridov class was a pair of monitors built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the late 1860s....

 class of ships. Admiral Lazarev and Admiral Greig became the first turreted warships in the Russian Navy.

Background

The early monitors of the Russian Navy had insufficient seafaring capacity and speed. As a result new plans for a faster, more seaworthy ship were made in 1864. The original plan called for building four monitors with that main armament consisting of three gun turrets. They were named after famous Russian admirals: Lazarev, Greig, Spiridov and Chichagov

Pavel Chichagov

Pavel Vasilievich Chichagov or Tchichagov was a Russian military and naval commander of the Napoleonic wars.He was born in 1767 in Saint Petersburg, the son of Admiral Vasili Chichagov and his English wife. At the age of 12 he was enlisted in the Guard. In 1782 he served in a campaign in the...

. However the last two ships were significantly redesigned, having only two turrets, but heavier armor, so only Admiral Lazarev and Admiral Greig are considered to be ships of the class.

Design

The ships were similar in size to earlier Russian ironclads. They had a shorter beam due to the turret, rather than broadside weaponry. A longer draft made the ships more stable at the sea. Due to the heavy weight, the masts of the ships were significantly lighter and smaller than initially planned, but the more powerful 2000 hp engine made the ships somewhat faster than earlier monitors, with the top speed of 11 knots (21.6 km/h).

The ships were protected by a 4.5 in (114 mm) armor belt and turrets by 6.5 in (165 mm) armor. The main armament was three gun turret

Gun turret

A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...

s, each with two 9-inch (229 mm) guns. Later, all four ships had turrets refitted with 11-inch (279 mm) guns, one gun per turret. With the new guns, the Admiral Lazarev and Admiral Spiridov classes became among the most powerful ships of the Baltic Fleet

Baltic Fleet

The Twice Red Banner Baltic Fleet - is the Russian Navy's presence in the Baltic Sea. In previous historical periods, it has been part of the navy of Imperial Russia and later the Soviet Union. The Fleet gained the 'Twice Red Banner' appellation during the Soviet period, indicating two awards of...

.

Ships

Ship	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
	Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...	1865	1869	1871	Sold for scrapping to Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...  in 1911, sank on the way in a storm in 1912
	Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...	1865	1869	1871	Scrapped

Service History

Both ships were entered service in 1869, but were not fully completed until 1871. They served as a part of the Baltic Fleet. In 1892, the ships were reclassified as coastal defence and later as training ships. Shortly before the First World War, the ships were scrapped.