Адмиралтейские верфи
"Ekaterina II" was built at the Admiralty Shipyard in Nikolayev. The other three ships were built in Sevastopol by the Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company. The Admiralty Shipyard was not yet ready to build such a large ship and required additional preparations before it was ready to begin "Ekaterina II". Some delays were caused by the necessity to send some equipment from St. Petersburg, but the primary reason for the lengthy six-year construction time were near-constant design changes after building had begun. The gun mountings were found to be larger than anticipated and the redoubt had to be carried out over the ship's sides on sponsons to make enough room. The frontal armor thickness of the redoubt was reduced from to 12 inches in compensation. The redoubt also had to be moved back about to prevent the ships from trimming by the head and the armor was rearranged as mentioned earlier.