The Pervenents-class ironclads were designed as Coastal defence ships to protect the approaches to Saint Petersburg and were referred to as "self-propelled armored floating batteries".

[2] She received the refurbished engine from the steam ship of the line Konstantin as a cost-cutting measure, originally intended for her sister Pervenets.

During sea trials on 18 July 1865, the engine produced a total of 1,200 indicated horsepower (890 kW) and gave the ship a maximum speed of 7.75–8 knots (14.35–14.82 km/h; 8.92–9.21 mph).

Under a combination of sail and steam the ship could reach a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)[4] Ne Tron Menia was completed with seventeen 8-inch (203 mm) rifled guns.

[6] Ne Tron Menia, Touch Me Not (from the biblical Latin phrase Noli me tangere which appears in John 20:17),[7] was ordered on 31 May 1862 when a contract was signed with the British shipbuilder Charles Mitchell.

The state-owned Galerniy Island Shipyard in Saint Petersburg was leased to Mitchell and the Naval Ministry agreed to upgrade the facilities to handle iron-hulled, ironclad warships.

As part of this formation, Ne Tron Menia was frequently rearmed to train officers and men on some of the latest guns to enter service.

[5] To alleviate the cramped conditions of the steersmen, the ship's wheel was transferred from the gun deck to a platform that spanned her bulwarks in front of the mizzenmast in 1871.

Ne Tron Menia served with the Mine School at Kronstadt before she was disarmed on 15 September 1905 and stricken from the Navy List on 11 October.

Ne Tron Menia was acquired by the Soviets after the Russian Civil War and then sold to the Leningrad Metal Works on 24 June 1925.