 After the end of the Russo @-@ Japanese War of 1905 , the Russian Naval General Staff decided that it needed a squadron of fast " armoured cruisers " that could use their speed to engage the leader of an enemy 's battle line , much as Admiral Tōgō had done against the Russian fleet during the Battle of Tsushima . Initially the Naval General Staff wanted a ship with high speed ( 28 knots or 52 kilometres per hour or 32 miles per hour ) , 12 @-@ inch ( 305 mm ) guns , and limited protection ( a waterline belt of 190 mm or 7 @.@ 5 in ) ; the Emperor approved construction of four such ships on 5 May 1911 , but the Duma session ended before the proposal could be voted on . Preliminary bids for the ships were solicited from private builders , but the bids proved to be very high , leading to a reconsideration of the requirements . A new specification was issued on 1 July 1911 by the Naval General Staff for a ship with a speed of only 26 @.@ 5 knots ( 49 @.@ 1 km / h ; 30 @.@ 5 mph ) and with armour increased to 254 mm ( 10 in ) . Armaments were increased to nine 14 @-@ inch ( 356 mm ) guns in three non @-@ superfiring triple @-@ gun turrets , based on a false rumor that the Germans were increasing the caliber of their guns . The Russian Navy believed that widely separating the main gun magazines improved the survivability of the ship , and that under a superfiring arrangement , muzzle blast would hurt the sailors manning the gun sights in the lower turrets through the open sighting hoods on the turret roofs . 
