She served as a gunnery training ship and troopship with the Baltic Fleet for a number of years after her completion.

The design of Imperator Nikolai I was based on that of the British first-rate ship of the line HMS Duke of Wellington.

She was equipped with an imported British Humphrys and Tennant steam engine of 600 nominal horsepower that drove a single propeller shaft.

[1] The ship was laid down on 26 June 1855 at the New Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg with the name of Imperator Aleksandr I, but she was renamed on 28 July 1855.

Imperator Nikolai I was launched on 18 July 1860 and conducted her sea trials after the installation of her engines and machinery was completed on 1 June 1861.