Boats are long and skinny for a good reason--the streamlined shape facilitates them getting from one place to another. This basic design premise was lost on Russian marine architect A. A. Popov, who decided that the perfect shape for his new design of an ironclad vessel was a circle about a hundred feet in diameter--in essence, a huge, shallow dish with guns mounted on it. It has been described as "the ugliest warship ever built."
Popov's rationale was that such a configuration would provide an extremely stable platform for heavy guns and would further allow the boat to function in shallow waters.
The Russian Navy bought his idea, and as a result, in 1874, they constructed the first "Popoffka" (named after its designer) class of warship--the Novgorod (a photo of a model of this vessel can be found below). It was launched into the Black Sea, where it was intended to dominate the Turkish Navy. For awhile, it did, as the Turks had no ironclads in the area. Later, the Novgorod, and a larger Popoffka, the Rear Admiral Popov, were incorporated into the Danube flotilla during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, where their huge design flaws become apparent. They had to be towed from one area to the next, as their propellers were inadequate for the task of moving the boat in a straight line. The slightest choppiness in the water would cause profound pitching and seriously seasick seamen. The steering was very sluggish and ineffective, and it took 45 minutes to turn the ship around. Initially, when the vessel fired its guns, the centrifugal force would spin it around in a circle; however, later modifications ameliorated this particular problem.
A disgruntled Russian Navy decommissioned the ships in 1903. They were used as storage facilities for awhile until they were scrapped in 1911 or 1912.
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| By Netmate (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
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