Pervenets-class ironclad

A postcard of Pervenets at anchor
Class overview
NamePervenetz
Operators Imperial Russian Navy
Preceded bySevastopol
Succeeded byKniaz Pozharsky
Built1861–1866
Completed3
Scrapped3
General characteristics (Pervenets as built)
TypeArmored frigate
Displacement3,277 long tons (3,330 t)
Length220 ft (67 m)
Beam53 ft (16 m)
Draft14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Installed power
Propulsion1 shaft, 1 Horizontal direct-action steam engine
Speed9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Complement430 officers and crewmen
Armament
  • 24 × 60-pounder smoothbore guns (gundeck)
  • 2 × 60-pounder smoothbore guns (upper deck)
Armor

The Pervenets-class ironclads were a group of three armored frigates built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1860s. The first ship was built in England because the Russian Empire lacked the ability to build its own ironclads, but the other two were built in Russia. All three ships differed from one another as the design evolved over time. None of the ships ever saw combat and only Kreml had an eventful career, sinking a wooden frigate in an collision in 1869 and sinking herself in 1885. She was refloated and returned to service. They were assigned to the Baltic Fleet upon completion and never left Russian waters. They served with the Gunnery Training Detachment for the bulk of their careers before being reduced to reserve in 1904. They were sold four years later and Pervenets and Ne Tron Menia were converted into coal barges. Pervenets survived World War II and was scrapped in the early 1960s, Ne Tron Menia was sunk during the war and scrapped around 1950, while Kreml's fate after her sale is unknown