Battleship Petr Veliky, 1877
The Petr Velikiy was a Russian ironclad turret battleship. The ship is considered by most authorities to be the first true battleship in the Imperial Russian Navy, all previous vessels either being predecessors of the cruiser type or more closely related to the monitor type of coast defence vessel.
The design was similar to HMS Devastation. She was built by the Galernii yard in St Petersburg. Laid down in June 1869, she was launched in 1872, and completed in 1877. She joined the Baltic Fleet in 1876. The original machinery proved unsatisfactory and was replaced in 1881 by Elder and Company in Glasgow, Scotland. She subsequently served in the Baltic Fleet. She was considered obsolete by 1905 and reconstructed as a training ship. She served in World War I, renamed Respublikanets (Republican) after the Russian Revolution, subsequently converted into a stationary depot ship and renamed " "Barrikada (Barricade) and finally scrapped in 1959.
The ship was painted in the following way: sides, superstructure, smokestack and turret tops – black; air-inlets and masts – dark-gray; turret sides, main cannon barrels, pilot-house; decking – natural wood.
