The ships were powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller, using steam generated by 14 cylindrical boilers at a working pressure of . Unlike her sisters, "Sevastopol" had 16 boilers. The engines were rated at and designed to reach a top speed of 16 knots. "Poltava" and "Petropavlovsk" used turbines and boilers imported from Britain and slightly exceeded their specifications; during their sea trials, the ships reached maximum speeds of from , respectively. "Sevastopol", using domestically built machinery, only reached a speed of from , despite the extra boilers. The Naval Ministry chose not to exercise the penalty provisions of the contract for failing to attain the design speed because it had specified the machinery to be used. The "Petropavlovsk"s carried a maximum of of coal which allowed them to steam for at a speed of .