Russian battleship Novgorod
Encyclopedia
The Novgorod was an Imperial Russian warship. It was one of the most unusual warship
Warship
A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...
s ever constructed, and still survives in popular naval myth, often described as the "ugliest warship ever built". Together with her near-sister ship Rear Admiral Popov, they were affectionately called "popovkas", after their chief designer. The hull was circular (viewed from the top) intended to be a particularly stable platform for guns but proving to be almost unmaneuverable in practice.
She was designed by Andrey Alexandrovich Popov of 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...
, with the purpose of creating a stable platform armed with a few heavy guns, that could operate in coastal waters, and be well protected by armour
Armour
Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action...
plating.
The perceived advantage of the circular hull form was that a shallow-draught vessel could be built with a greater displacement; a small ship could then carry the same armament as a much larger vessel with a more typical hull form. For comparison, a 100 feet (30.5 m) by 13 feet (4 m) and 13-foot-draught vessel would only displace about 2,500 tons.
The primary armament of Novgorod was two 26-ton 11-inch guns mounted on separate revolving turntables that could be moved independently or together. Recoil
Recoil
Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
was suppressed by a hydraulic frictional compressor
Gas compressor
A gas compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume.Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can transport the fluid through a pipe. As gases are compressible, the compressor also reduces the volume of a gas...
, and by wedges placed in the after part of their platforms.
The ship was driven by six engines each with their own propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
shaft. Boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
and engine rooms occupied fully half of the interior hull space. The boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
s were placed in two separate compartment
Compartment
In heraldry, a compartment is a design placed under the shield, usually rocks, a grassy mount , or some sort of other landscape upon which the supporters are depicted as standing...
s, one on either beam. Four steam launches were usually carried on deck.
Novgorod and her near-sister Rear Admiral Popov proved poorly designed in use. They pitched and rolled excessively, even in moderate seas. They were slow, poorly maneuverable, and vulnerable to plunging fire
Plunging fire
Plunging fire is gunfire directed upon an enemy from an elevated position, or gunfire aimed so as to fall on an enemy from above.In naval warfare plunging fire was often used to penetrate an enemy ship's thinner deck armor rather than firing directly at an enemy ship's side...
. Worst though, was that the off-axis recoil of the guns would impart a centrifugal rotation to the ship. In operational use, these ships would have to throw their single rudder
Rudder
A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...
hard over during firing, to act as "water brakes". This severely restricted the aiming and rate-of-fire of the main guns. Both ships (dubbed 'popoffkas' after their designer) served in the Danube Flotilla during the Russo-Turkish War. Both were redesignated as "Coastal Defense Armor-Clad Ships" in 1892, and relegated as storeships in 1903. They were not scrapped until 1912.