''General-Admiral'' was the lead ship of her class of armored cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the early 1870s. She is generally considered the first true armored cruiser.Beeler, p. 222

Design and description

Originally classified as an armored

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

, ''General-Admiral'' was redesignated as a semi- armored frigate on 24 March 1875. She was laid out as a

central battery ironclad The central battery ship, also known as a centre battery ship in the United Kingdom and as a casemate ship in European continental navies, was a development of the (high-freeboard) broadside ironclad of the 1860s, given a substantial boost due t ...

with the armament concentrated amidships. The iron-hulled ship was not fitted with a ram and her crew numbered approximately 482 officers and men. ''General-Admiral'' was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

. She had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draft of . The ship was designed to displace , but displaced as built, an increase of over .Watts, p. 72

Propulsion

The ship had a vertical compound steam engine driving a single two-bladed propeller. Steam was provided by five cylindrical boilers at a pressure of . The engine produced during sea trials which gave the ship a maximum speed around . ''General-Admiral'' carried a maximum of of coal which gave her an economical range of at a speed of . She was ship-rigged with three masts. To reduce drag while under sail her funnel was retractable and her propeller could be hoisted into the hull.Wright, pp. 44–45

Notes

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References

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