Without going into the analysis of the general military-political and strategic reasons for the defeat of the Russian army and navy in the Russo-Japanese war, well known to the reader, let's see why the newest Russian squadrons of armageddons, which entered into service already during the war, died.
- In the Battle of Tsushima participated various types of Russian armored carriers, which allow us to judge the evolution of the armored fleet of Russia over the past decade, from the battleship "Emperor of Nicholas 1" (1891) to the newest battleships of mud "Boyrodino" (1903-1904). The most interesting of the dead ships were the battleships "Navarin", "Sisoi the Great", "Oslyabya" and "Borodino".
"Navarin" (1894), which occupied an important place in the development of armored shipbuilding in the Russian Navy, belonged to the type of so-called citadel battleships with unarmored ends of the hull. The thickness of the steel armor of the central citadel reached 406 mm. The citadel was covered by two armored decks with a total thickness of 114 mm. Carapace decks 57-76 mm thick reached the ends of the ship. The artillery of the main caliber (305 mm) of 35 calibers was placed in two two two gun towers in the bow and stern, protected by armor 305 mm thick. Powerful armor "Navarin" made the vital centers of the ship almost invulnerable to the existing at that time artillery. With a displacement of 10,210 tons "Navarin" developed a course of about 16 knots.
The project of the battleship "Navarin" served as a basis for the creation of battleship "Three Saints" on the Black Sea and "Sisa the Great" on the Baltic, as well as battleships of coastal defense "Admiral Ushakov", "Admiral Senyavin" and "General Admiral Apraksin".
- In the project of the battleship "Sisoi the Great" (1896) received further development of the basic technical solutions that formed the basis of the project of the battleship "Navarin". Significantly improved seaworthy qualities due to the increase in the height of the surface board. The reservation system became more rational: the armored deck was lowered to the level of the upper edge of the armored belt. The same type of armadillos "Poltava" (1897), "Sevastopol" (1898) and "Petropavlovsk" (1897), which were part of the 1st Pacific Squadron, were the further development of the project of armadillos "Sisoy the Great". These ships differed from their predecessors by more harmoniously combining tactical and technical characteristics. They had good seaworthiness and powerful armor, not inferior to the "Sisa the Great", long-range of navigation (up to 3000 miles) and increased speed (over 16 knots). The number of 152-mm guns was brought to 12. For the first time on these ships, the average artillery was placed mainly in two-ordered towers and partially in casemates. The newly appeared Krupp steel was used for armor.
In 1902 the battleships "Navarin" and "Sisoi the Great" arrived from the Far East to Kronshtadt for major repairs but did not have time to begin repair work. The ships were included in the 2nd Pacific Squadron in worse condition than they were before the transition to Kronshtadt.
The battleship "Oslyabya" (1901) was built according to another project developed by the Marine Technical Committee (MTK).
In 1894, the design displacement was limited to 10,500 tons. A year later, the initial design was revised to increase water displacement to 12,674 tons due to new requirements to increase the speed to 18 knots, the capacity of the power plant and navigation range. As a result, the Baltic Fleet was supposed to get a powerful new type of armored battleship capable of operating in the ocean for a long time away from its bases. The construction of the armored battleship of this type was the logical conclusion of the ideas about the cruising war against England on sea communications. For these purposes have already been built cruiser "General Admiral", "Vladimir Monomakh", "Rurik", etc. It was assumed that the inclusion of new high-speed battleships in the cruise group will increase its combat stability, and the change of their tactical and technical characteristics will make the connection more maneuverable and autonomous. The special purpose of the new armadillos was mentioned by the reduced to 254 mm caliber of large artillery, and lightweight turrets developed for the armadillos of the coastal defense type "Admiral Ushakov". Reduction of the load due to the reduction of the artillery caliber and armor of the board up to 229 mm allowed to increase the fuel reserve and, consequently, the range of navigation up to 6000 miles, which more than doubled the capacity of the previous armored carriers. Economic speed was provided by one of the three main vehicles and a reduced number of operating boilers.
The ship possessed good seaworthy qualities due to its high side and elongated tank, which housed one of the two towers of the battleship. Thanks to this, it was possible to use the artillery of the main caliber with great success, even in case of significant sea turmoil. Tower units allowed to give 254-mm guns produced by the Obukhov plant an elevation angle of up to 35° instead of the usual 15°, which increased the range of firing. The medium caliber artillery consisted of eleven 152-mm rapid-fire guns and an anti-mine gun made of twenty 75-mm guns.