text: russian monitor admiral spiridov the russian monitor admiral spiridov was the name ship of her class of monitors built for the imperial russian navy in the late 1860s . the ship was assigned to the baltic fleet upon completion and remained there for her entire career . aside from an accidental collision her service was uneventful . the sister ships were reclassified as coast - defense ironclads in 1892 before they became training ships in 1900 . admiral spiridov was stricken from the navy list in 1907 and became a coal - storage barge . her ultimate fate is unknown . design and description the admiral spiridov - class monitors were significantly larger than their predecessors , the charodeika class , and were 254 feet ( 77 . 4 m ) long at the waterline . they had a beam of 43 feet ( 13 . 1 m ) and a maximum draft of 21 feet ( 6 . 4 m ) . the ships were designed to displace 3 , 196 long tons ( 3 , 247 t ) , but turned out to be overweight and actually displaced 3 , 505 to 3 , 587 long tons ( 3 , 561 to 3 , 645 t ) . their crew consisted of 280 officers and crewmen . the admiral spiridov class had a single two - cylinder horizontal direct - acting steam engine , which drove a single propeller using steam provided by four rectangular fire - tube boilers . the engine was designed to produce a total of 2 , 000 indicated horsepower ( 1 , 500 kw ) , which gave the ship a speed of 9 . 1 knots ( 16 . 9 km / h ; 10 . 5 mph ) from 2 , 060 ihp ( 1 , 540 kw ) when she ran her initial sea trials in 1871 . two years later , admiral spiridov ran them again , this time reaching 10 . 2 knots ( 18 . 9 km / h ; 11 . 7 mph ) . the ship carried 280 long tons ( 280 t ) of coal which gave her a range of 1 , 400 nautical miles ( 2 , 600 km ; 1 , 600 mi ) at full speed . she was fitted with three masts in a light fore - and - aft rig to steady her and aid in maneuvering . the monitors were ultimately designed to be armed with four obukhov 9 - inch rifled guns , a pair in each turret . in 1874 – 75 the guns were replaced by a single 11 - inch ( 279 mm ) gun . during the russo - turkish war of 1877 – 78 , a 9 - inch mortar was fitted to attack the thin deck armor of enemy ships , but accuracy was poor and they were later removed , probably in the early 1880s . admiral spiridov retained her original guns until 1902 , although a more powerful 11 - inch gun may have been installed after that date . light guns for use against torpedo boats were added to the admiral spiridov - class ships during the russo - turkish war when a pair of 4 - pounder 3 . 4 - inch ( 86 mm ) guns were mounted on the roofs of each gun turret . a variety of other small guns are known to have been fitted , but details are lacking . the ships could also carry 12 to 15 mines . the hull of the admiral spiridov - class monitors was completely covered by wrought - iron armor that was 5 . 5 to 6 . 5 inches ( 140 to 165 mm ) thick amidships and thinned to 3 . 25 inches ( 83 mm ) aft and 3 . 5 inches ( 89 mm ) forward of the main belt . the turrets had 6 inches of armor , except around the gun ports , where it thickened to 6 . 5 inches . the conning tower was 5 inches ( 127 mm ) thick and the deck armor was in two layers with a total thickness of 1 inch . construction and service admiral spiridov , named for admiral grigory spiridov , was ordered on 4 june 1865 from the semiannikov & poletika shipyard , saint petersburg , although the formal keel - laying was not until 20 november 1866 . construction was delayed by changes to the design and late deliveries of components . she was launched on 28 august 1868 and then transferred to kronstadt for fitting out as the shallow waters around saint petersburg prevented deep - draft ships from being completed . this added more delays as the dockyard there lacked the equipment to efficiently fit out the ships , and she officially entered service in 1869 at the cost of 1 , 177 , 500 rubles . the ship was assigned to the baltic fleet upon completion , but she was not fully equipped until around 1872 and her trials continued until 1873 . admiral spiridov accidentally rammed the monitor admiral lazarev in kronstadt harbor in 1871 , but was only slightly damaged . steam - powered steering gear was installed in the ship in 1887 and she was reclassified as a coast - defense ironclad on 13 february 1892 . by this time , her role in russian war plans was to defend the gulf of riga against an anticipated german amphibious landing . in 1900 , admiral spiridov was assigned to the kronstadt engineering school as a training ship . she was transferred to the port of kronstadt on 31 march 1907 for disposal . the ship was stricken on 14 august and admiral spiridov became a stationary coal - storage barge . her subsequent fate is unknown . one source suggests that she and her sister admiral chichagov , and the two admiral lazarev - class monitors , were used as floating piers for the railroad bridge over the river during the construction of the saint petersburg – murmansk railroad in 1916 before being scrapped in the 1920s .