Monitors were generally low -draught ships which made them excellent for rivers and inland waters. However, this worked against them on the high seas. Russia, in the late 1860s became very concerned with protecting their river systems and monitors seemed to fit the bill.
But, all that armor and cannons meant the ship would draw more draught, which would be a problem in the shallower rivers.
But Scottish shipbuilder John Elder figured that if you increase the beam of a ship you could carry more of everything with little or no increase in the draught.
Imperial Russian Navy Rear Admiral Andrei Alexandrovich Popov took this idea and really ran with it. He took the concept of widening all the way up to where the ship's shape actually became a circle.
After testing the concept with models and a small 24-foot diameter ship and then a full-sized ship was authorized and construction on the Novgorod started in late 1871, with the ship having a 100-foot diameter., displacing 2,531 tons and having a draft of only 13 and a half feet.
--Old B-Runner
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