A balanced fleet beat arithmetic gun counting

Although Russia nominally had more battleships, Japan brought a balanced fleet with many more cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats, and supporting vessels. The disparity was clearest outside the battle line: Japan fielded 29 cruisers, 21 destroyers, 45 torpedo boats, and 22 auxiliary combat vessels, against nine Russian cruisers, nine destroyers, and nine auxiliaries. Russian coastal-defense ships and other additions reduced common speed and made the formation harder to maneuver, yet officials could claim they had sent every available gun. Raw totals did not determine naval power because training, mobility, maintenance, and supply governed how a fleet could employ its weapons. The mismatch made Tsushima an encounter between a supported fleet system and an exhausted collection of ships.