Officer selection and borrowed expertise

The Imperial Russian Navy favoured aristocratic lineage, Orthodox affiliation, and perceived leadership over mathematical, scientific, or engineering ability in officer selection. The service still needed specialist competence, so it recruited foreign admirals, officers, and sailors at different points. Naval officers could also move into imperial-commercial posts such as managing the Russian-American Company in Russian America, where colonisation and the fur trade overlapped with state service. Professional development was therefore an institutional problem that could not be solved by acquiring ships alone.