Design No. 5 for a circular warship by John Elder in 1868

In the magazine The Artisan dated 1 July 1868 was a plate with figures and a small note published dealing with several designs for a ‘circular warship’ proposed by John Elder. He believed that such a ship with a widened beam could have a thicker and heavier armour and heavy guns compared with a ship of the common design and at the other hand a shallower draught and with a somewhat increased horsepower a comparable speed. The same year he read his paper Circular Ships of War, with immersed motive power for the United Service Institute in London, England. He executed experiments with his own construction and the common construction principles [the latter of a modern ironclad] including in all sorts of weather. It resulted in a draught around one-half of the draught of a common vessel allowing it to act in waters yet unaccessible. The power of rotation made it possible to act as a floating revolting turret or as a ram [like a gigantic circular saw).

John Elder was a Scottish shipbuilder and marine engineer (8 March 1824 Glasgow, Scotland-17 September 1869 London, England). He worked for Randolph, Elder&Co., Glasgow, Scotland which became in 1886 the well known Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company.

The Russian rear admiral Andrei Alexandrovich Popov designed in 1869 the Charodeika-class monitor-class for the defence of the Dniepr-Bug Estuary and Kerch Strait. Popov Elder’s ideas but by further widening the beam created a real circular ship and instead of a convex hull his design was flat-bottomed for a minimum draught. The armament was however not heavy enough and after several new designs was a design with a displacement of 6,151 tons, a diameter of 46.0 metres/151 feet and 4-27.9cm/11” guns approved. With too high building costs estimated was the design scaled down ending in the Novgorod laid down in 1871 with a displacement of 2,531 tons, a diameter of 30.8 metres/101 feet and 2-27.9cm/11” rifled muzzle guns.

According to a scale she was around 130 feet diameter adapted for carrying large mortars which were hardly too be carried in a common shaped ship.