Why Russian fleet geography imposed a permanent handicap

Russia did not need sea power to bind together most of its territory in the way an overseas empire did, but its enormous distances still created logistical demands. Alaska and Russia's other American possessions were important exceptions to the empire's largely land-connected shape. Its two principal fleets faced strategic chokepoints: the Ottoman-controlled straits constrained the Black Sea Fleet, while hostile powers could close the Baltic. During the American Civil War era, Russia even sent its Baltic ships to neutral American ports so they could raid British and French possessions if war began rather than be trapped at home.