Why British estimates of Baden changed after inspection

Did the Royal Navy consider Baden more capable than British battleships?

Before inspection it estimated the ship conservatively as superior, but postwar testing made the Royal Navy much less impressed.

Intelligence analysts normally credit visible enemy strengths as slightly better than their own equivalents. Unknown features are then assumed to meet at least domestic standards, producing a cautious worst-case estimate. From a distance, Baden and the Bayern class therefore looked superior to British contemporaries. Physical access after the war allowed the Royal Navy to inspect, test, and compare the actual ship rather than its inferred capabilities. The revised judgement illustrates the difference between prudent wartime threat estimation and evidence-based technical evaluation after capture.