Visible gun count can outweigh effective firepower in public judgment

The transition from broadside batteries to a few powerful turrets creates a problem of perception as well as engineering. Specialists may understand that four modern guns can match or exceed a much larger older battery, while the wider public sees four guns against a hundred. Before Tsushima, newspaper predictions favored Russia through raw gun totals even though the Japanese fleet was better drilled and organized. Admiral Rozhestvensky understood that possessing more weapons did not guarantee victory without effective training in their use.