Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich oversaw real improvements to ports, docks, and qualifications, yet the navy lacked a coherent strategy to guide procurement. Russian classes borrowed from British and French examples built for different doctrines, producing a collection of individually plausible ships that did not form a coherent fleet. Copying a design only after another navy had begun it could leave a Russian class six or seven years behind by launch. Mixing a British operational model with French-derived systems compounded the mismatch. Copying equipment from a successful organization does not reproduce its success when the mission and operating context differ. Kaiser Wilhelm II alleged that Alexei demanded a personal payment before a ship could be purchased. His protected position also spared him serious demands to defend a naval strategy.
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Grand Duke Alexei's strategy-free fleet building
Russian shipbuilding copied prestigious foreign designs without first defining the missions, theaters, and support system the fleet required.