Popovkas needed for defence of the Dutch East Indies according to the Dutch newspaper Javabode dated 6 August 1875

In an extend article discussed the Dutch lieutenant 1st class H.D. Guyot (1) which ships in the Dutch East Indies needed. He made clear that not the Department of Navy but the Department for Colonies was responsible for the ships of the Indische Militaire Marine and Government. In his opinion were two coast defence vessels needed of the Russian popovka Novgorod design (2) to be able to defend this colony against an attack.

Notes
1. Henri Daniel Guyot (7 May 1836 Nijmegen, Netherlands-6 May 1912 The Hague, Netherlands), left the service as rear admiral, serving part of his career in the Dutch East Indies. Between 12 November 1889-20 March 1894 and 16 May 1894-21 September 1897 member of the Dutch parliament in which he mainly discussed army and naval affairs.
2. Together with her sister ship Rear Admiral Popov (ex-Kiev) designed by Andrei Alexandrovich Popov (21 September Russia-6 March 1898 Russia)to be circular shaped shallow draught vessels to serve in coastal waters. The Novgorod was armed with 2-11”26 ton guns placed on revolving turntables which could operate independently from each other. She was from far the stable platform Popov projected. It were pitching, rolling, slow and worse manoeuvring ships. Using the guns the ship started spinning. Propelled by six screws and fitted out with one rudder. The Novgorod was laid down at St. Petersburg, Russia on 17 December 1871,disassembled and transported to Nikolayev, launched on 21 May 1873, commissioned in 1874, reclassified as coastal defence armor-clad in 1892, stricken in 1900, decommissioned on 4 July 1803, became a store and finally broken up in 1912. With a displacement of 2.491-2.671 (full load) tons and as dimensions 30,8 (diameter) x 3,75 (draught( metres. The 8-coal fired boilers supplied 2.000 ihp allowing a speed of just 7 knots. Her crew numbered 2-11” guns, 2-4pd guns and 16-3,7cm guns. The armour consisted of a 23cm thick belt and a 6cm thick deck. Her sister ship - built at Nikolaiev in 1874- was somehow larger with a diameter of 36,3 metres and a displacement of 3.550 tons and heavier armed with 2-12.2” guns.