Gangut-class battleships in a mine-and-destroyer defense

A 1908 program cut earlier ambitions down to four dreadnoughts for the Baltic and smaller forces elsewhere, eventually enabling the Gangut class. Russia already possessed capable destroyers and submarines, but the Baltic's narrow waters offered no guarantee that those light forces could evade an enemy. The battleships served as a locknut, a heavy firepower core that secured the rest of the system. Torpedo craft could attack and then fall back toward that mobile refuge. The resulting force was a modified Jeune École concept built for a defensive battle in constricted waters.