Andrei Alexandrovich Popov

Who was Andrei Alexandrovich Popov?

Andrei Alexandrovich Popov was an officer of the Imperial Russian Navy, who saw action during the Crimean War, and became a noted naval designer.

Popov trained for the navy, and commanded ships before and during the Crimean War. He rose to the rank of rear-admiral and was assigned to supervise warship design and construction. He was in command of a squadron in the Pacific during the Polish Crisis that followed the January Uprising in 1863, and was sent to North America on a goodwill mission, and in order to raid colonial possessions should war break out between Russia and other European powers. Though there was no war, Popov spent a year in San Francisco, where the Russian presence had a distinct impact on life. Popov turned to warship design after his return to Russia, and proposed a series of warships to an unconventional circular design. Only two were built, one of which, Rear Admiral Popov, was named in honour of him. Their radical designs proved troublesome, and were not repeated.