General-Admiral was the lead ship of her class of armored cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the early 1870s. She is generally considered the first true armored cruiser.[1]
Originally classified as an armored corvette, General-Admiral was redesignated as a semi-armored frigate on 24 March 1875. She was laid out as a central battery ironclad with the armament concentrated amidships. The iron-hulled ship was not fitted with a ram and her crew numbered approximately 482 officers and men.
General-Admiral was 285feet long overall. She had a beam of 48feet and a draft of 24feet. The ship was designed to displace 4604LT, but displaced 5031LT as built, an increase of over 400LT.[2]
The ship had a vertical compound steam engine driving a single two-bladed 6.25adj=onNaNadj=on propeller. Steam was provided by five cylindrical boilers at a pressure of 4.24kg/cm2. The engine produced 4772ihp during sea trials which gave the ship a maximum speed around 12.3kn. General-Admiral carried a maximum of 1000LT of coal which gave her an economical range of 5900nmi at a speed of . She was ship-rigged with three masts. To reduce drag while under sail her funnel was retractable and her propeller could be hoisted into the hull.[3]