The Treaty of Paris ended the Crimean War (1853-1856). It was fought between Russia and an alliance of Britain and France. (Fort Fisher has been called the Malakoff Tower of the South, named after an impressive Russian fortification in this war.)
As part of the agreement, Russia was allowed just six small corvettes on the Black Sea. But, they had to be built elsewhere in St. Petersburg, disassembled and then shipped to the Black Sea for reassembly. This is how the Novgorod was built.
It was laid down in 1871 and wasn't completed and commissioned on the Black Sea until 1874. Modifications were made before the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) where the Novgorod was assigned the defense of Odessa. She did not see action.
After the war, the Novgorod made a cruise to the Romanian town of Sulina on the Danube River and then stationed in Sevastopol throughout the 1880s and made short cruises every summer. In 1892, it was reclassified as a coast defense monitor. By the following year, her hull and machinery were in extremely bad condition.
She was stricken from the Navy List in 1903 and used as a store ship. In 1908, it was offered for sale to Bulgaria, but the offer was not taken. Finally, the Novgorod was sold for scrap in 1911.
The main armament of the Novrogord was not in a turret, but out in the open.
She had a sister ship, the Vitse-admiral Popov which was a little bigger and not as round with heavier cannons. Like the Novgorod, it didn't have much success as a warship. Length 126 feet 10 inches, beam 117 feet 8 inches, mounting 12-inch rifle muzzle-loading guns.
--Old B-Runner
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