Strelets is an Uragan-class monitor built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the mid-1860s. The design was based on the American Passaic-class monitor, but was modified to suit Russian engines, guns and construction techniques. Spending her entire career with the Baltic Fleet, the ship was only active when the Gulf of Finland was not frozen, but very little is known about her service. She was struck from the Navy List in 1900, converted into a floating workshop the following year and renamed Plavmasterskaia No. 1. The ship served as such through 1955. The ship was identified as still afloat in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2015, and attempts are being made by the Foundation for Historic Boats and the Russian Central Military History Museum to restore her.
Strelets after the late 1870s
The Uragan class was a class of monitors built for the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. The ships were built to the plans of the American Passaic-class monitors, a design that was tested on a smaller scale on USS Monitor. A total of 10 ships were constructed at five different shipyards in Saint Petersburg, all entering service in 1865. The ships were among the first ironclad warships in the Russian Navy.
Veschun («Вещун»)
Comparison of the turrets of the Passaic / Uragan class (left) and the later Canonicus class (right). The 15-inch Rodman guns for the Uragan class were produced at the Aleksandrovsk gun factory in Petrozavodsk.
229 mm naval gun M1867 in Suomenlinna.