Fleet totals hid difficult coalition assumptions

Paper comparisons treated French and Russian strength as though allied ships could readily operate as one force. In practice, different speeds, acceleration, machinery, and tactical characteristics could make a coalition fleet hard to command. French one-off designs compounded the coordination problem because individual ships behaved almost like separate classes. The standard was therefore a conservative planning measure: it counted potential strength without assuming that opponents would suffer every operational disadvantage available to them. The difference between inventory arithmetic and coalition command explains why the nominal total was only a starting point.