Uragan - class monitor The " Uragan " class ( also known as the " Bronenosetz " 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 the 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 warship s in the Russian Navy . Russian - American relations . During the American Civil War Russia was the only European country besides Switzerland that gave the Union unreserved support . While not actively involved in fighting , large parts of the Russian blue - water navy were stationed in San Francisco and New York , patrolling the US east and west coasts . ( see Russian frigate Alexander Nevsky ) From 1863 the squadrons had standing orders to attack British and Confederate shipping in the Atlantic and Pacific in case of a breakdown in relations between Russia and Britain . The squadrons also had sealed orders , most likely to the same effect , only to be opened if " during the Rebellion the United States becomes involved in a war with foreign nations . " War between Britain and the Union was considered unavoidable if Britain was to give diplomatic recognition to the Confederacy . Relations between Russia and Britain deteriorated further because of the British support — or what the Russians saw as sponsorship — of the Polish January Uprising of 1863 . If war between the two countries were to happen , it was thought likely that British and French Naval forces would try to attack the Russian capital of Saint Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland . It was feared that this would be a repeat of the Baltic theatre of the Crimean War eight years previously , when the Allied steam - powered fleet had outgunned and outmaneuvered the Russian sailing fleet . Russians calculated , that in a battle in the confided waters of the Baltic the Russian wooden ships would be worthless , but could do more damage to the British in distant seas . With the wooden fleet gone , Russia would have no naval protection of her home waters . Russian monitor program . A Russian monitor program was started as soon as news of the Battle of Hampton Roads reached Europe . Naval architect N . Artseulov was sent to America to join Russian naval attaché , Captain ( later Rear Admiral ) Stepan Stepanovich Lessovsky and to assess at first hand the advantages and disadvantages of John Ericsson ' s monitors . He returned on March 16 , 1863 , with detailed drawings and specifications of the " Passaic " class . Already on March 11 , 1863 the Russian Admiralty approved a program to build ten armored vessels based on the " Passaic " design . The decision to use the American plans was based on the lack of time , money and experience in building armored vessels . A larger monitor , " Smerch " ( « Смерч » ) , with two turret s of a design by Cowper Phipps Coles was also approved and launched in 1864 . One of the benefits of the Ericsson turret design , as opposed to the British design by Coles , was the layered construction from 1 inch armored plate . The Coles design required slabs of 114 . 3 mm thickness . This armor could not be produced in any Russian plant , and in Europe , only John Brown & Co in Sheffield , England , was producing armored plate of this thickness and of the required quality . Construction . Two of the ships were built by the state - owned New Admiralty yard , the others were ordered from privately owned shipyards . The Galerniy Island yard , Carr and MacPherson and the Nevsky factory ( owned by Colonel PF Semyannikova and Retired Lieutenant VA Poletiki ) each produced two ships . Two ships were prefabricated in Belgium by Cockerill & Co and assembled in Kronstadt . All ships were laid down in late 1863 and launched in 1864 . Some of the turrets and steam engines were produced at the Izhorsky Zavod state factory , and some by the Baird Works . Iron armor for the ships was first ordered form John Brown & Co in Sheffield , but they cited difficultes in meeting the demand . Instead most of the 1 inch armor plate needed for the ships was produced by Russian forges . The cost of the Russian - built ships was around 570 thousand rubles for each ship . The two Belgian ships cost 619 , 000 silver rubles . Armament . In their first eight years of operation the monitors were equipped with three different types of artillery pieces . Procurement efforts for all three types were started at the same time in 1863 . An order was placed in 1863 with the Krupp factories in Germany for 9 inch smoothbore guns with steel barrels ; these were initially used to arm the monitors . At the same time , Artillery specialist Filemon N . Pestich was sent to America along with Artseulov and Lessovsky to acquire gun technology . He returned in 1864 with technology for the production of 15 inch smoothbore Dahlgren gun s , the type in use on the American " Passaics " . A new gun factory was established in Petrozavodsk in Russian Karelia . Production of Dahlgren guns was immediately started at the Aleksandrovsk gun factory , with the first 15 inch gun cast on January 2 , 1864 , The first 15 inch guns were installed on the monitors by 1868 , but they only became available for all ships in 1869 . Unlike the American sister ships , mixed armaments of 15 inch and smaller guns were not used . Also in 1863 development of a rifled gun started with the help of Krupp technology . The Obukhov State Plant was founded in St . Petersburg to produce guns based on Krupp designs . The new 9 inch Breech - loading rifled guns become known as the " 229 mm cannon M1867 " . The ships were rearmed with these guns starting in 1873 . As the monitors were hulked in 1900 the rifled M1867 guns were removed ; they later served as coastal artillery in Peter the Great ' s Naval Fortress . Some of the guns still exist on the seafortress of Suomenlinna in Helsinki .