Andrei Alexandrovich Popov

Andrei Alexandrovich Popov (21 September 1821 - 6 March 1898) was an officer of the Imperial Russian Navy, who saw action during the Crimean War, and became a noted naval designer.

Popov trained for the navy, and commanded ships before and during the Crimean War. He rose to the rank of rear-admiral and was assigned to supervise warship design and construction. He was in command of a squadron in the Pacific during the Polish Crisis that followed the January Uprising in 1863, and was sent to North America on a goodwill mission, and in order to raid colonial possessions should war break out between Russia and other European powers. Though there was no war, Popov spent a year in San Francisco, where the Russian presence had a distinct impact on life. Popov turned to warship design after his return to Russia, and proposed a series of warships in an unconventional circular design. Only two were built, one of which, Vitse-admiral Popov, was named in honour of him. Their radical designs proved troublesome, and were not repeated.

Early life Popov was born in Russia on 21 September 1821, and attended the Naval School. He entered the navy after graduating, and rose to command the cruiser Meteor. In turn the Union supported Russia in the January Uprising, and in July 1863 a squadron of seven warships under Rear-Admiral Stepan Lesovskii were ordered to sail from St Petersburg to New York, where they arrived on 24 September. Popov was also dispatched to America, and arrived in San Francisco in October with six ships, the corvettes Bogatyr, Kalavela, Rynda and Novik, and the clippers Abrek and Gaidamak. Popov had been in correspondence with the director of the Ministry of Navy, Nikolay Karlovich Krabbe, concerning the threat of war with other European powers over the Polish crisis. Popov had advised Krabbe that his squadron would be best positioned in San Francisco due to its good communication links, and would sail from there to raid British and French colonial possession in the event of war. During the Russian squadron's stay in the city, a fire broke out in the wharves, which 200 Russian sailors volunteered to help fight, with possibly six of them losing their lives in doing so. The city council unanimously adopted a resolution on 26 October 1863 thanking Popov and a number of his officers for their help in fighting the fire, and gold medals were awarded. Deterred by Popov's announcement, and the presence of the Russian squadron, Confederate raiders did not risk attacking the port. Popov built a 24-foot steamer and carried out tests in 1870, subsequently proposing a fleet of ten large circular coastal defence vessels. The expense involved meant that only two were built, the Novgorod and the Kiev. Firing their guns caused the guns, which were mounted on their own separate turntables, to spin round due to a weak locking mechanism. This effect gave rise to a myth that the whole ship would spin around when the guns were fired, even though the guns were not powerful enough, and being placed in the center, had minimal leverage to do so. They could not cope with rough weather and were prone to rolling and pitching, which prevented the aiming and loading of the guns. Though they were judged failures, the circular hull design, tempered with a conventional bow and stern, was repeated in the design of the Russian imperial yacht Livadia with greater success. She proved to be comfortable and a good seakeeper. The two battleships and Livadia were christened 'Popovki', by Imperial decree.

Popov's involvement with warship design and construction led to him being made an honorary associate of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, in London. He died in Russia on 6 March 1898.