Russian frigate General Admiral General Admiral ( ) was a screw frigate ordered by the Imperial Russian Navy from the United States before the American Civil War . She spent the bulk of her career in the Mediterranean Sea where she evacuated insurgents and their families from Crete in 1868 during the Cretan Revolt . She was struck from the Navy List the following year and broken up in 1870 . Description . " General Admiral " was a very large screw frigate designed by Captain 1st Rank Ivan Shestakov and named after General Admiral Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia , commander of the Russian Navy . She was built of live oak , but was reinforced with diagonal and longitudinal iron braces . " General Admiral " displaced . She was long between perpendiculars , had a beam of and a deep draft of . She was sheathed in copper to reduce biofouling . A novel system of zinc pipes that penetrated sheathing and connected with the ventilation fan was installed in the hold to prevent the decay of her hull . Its efficacy is unknown although " General Admiral " s short life suggests that it was not effective . Two steam engines , rated at a total of , and six fire - tube boiler s powered the single propeller when the ship was under steam . Using her engines , she had a maximum speed of . " General Admiral " s propeller could be hoisted out of the water and her funnel retracted to improve her sailing qualities . She was considered to be an excellent sailer and could reach under sail alone . She carried of coal which gave her a range of , but it was her 75 days of provisions that were the practical limit of her endurance . " General Admiral " s armament was made and installed in Russia . Her battery deck carried thirty - six 60 - pounder muzzle - loading guns and four long 36 - pounder chase gun s . The upper deck had twenty - four 60 - pounder guns and two long 36 - pounder chase guns . Two 3 - pood shell guns were mounted fore and aft on revolving platforms . In 1862 her armament was revised and two 60 - pounder and the two long 36 - pounder guns on her upper deck were removed . Four years later , it was rearranged with two 60 - pounders moved from her upper deck to the lower deck and two long 36 - pounders moved from the lower deck to the upper deck . Career . " General Admiral " was laid down on 21 September 1857 at the William H . Webb Shipyard in New York City . She was launched on 3 September 1858 and was delivered to Kronstadt on 15 March 1859 by an American crew , commanded by an American captain , although Captain Shestakov accompanied her back to Russia . Her total cost , including delivery , was 1 , 419 , 629 . 51 silver rubles . En route she only took eleven days to reach Cherbourg from New York City under steam , a record time for a warship at that time . She sailed for the Mediterranean the following year under the command of Captain Shestakov , stopping at Kiel on July 1860 . While in the Mediterranean she made port visits at Beirut , Piraeus and Nice . " General Admiral " departed Nice on 16 April 1863 for the Baltic Sea . She met the newly completed coast - defence ship en route and escorted her from England to the Baltic . Three years later , on 8 June 1866 , " General Admiral " departed Kronstadt for the Mediterranean , making a port visit at Copenhagen on 22 June en route . In June 1867 she made another port visit at Piraeus before leaving Cadiz on 26 July bound for the Baltic . She returned to the Mediterranean the next year and evacuated Cretan insurgents and their families in 1868 during the Cretan Revolt against the Ottoman Empire . Having returned to Russia by 1869 , she was struck from the Navy List on 26 June 1869 and broken up the following year .