 The ship was ordered as part of the " Programme for the Needs of the Far East " , authorised by Tsar Nicholas II in 1898 to defend Russia 's newly acquired ice @-@ free port of Port Arthur in Manchuria . Russian shipyards were already at full capacity so the Naval Ministry decided to order ships from abroad . Specifications were issued on 14 June 1898 and a few days later the chief designer of the French shipyard Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée proposed a design based on that of the French battleship Jauréguiberry . The Naval Technical Committee approved the design with a few changes to which the French readily agreed . The General Admiral , Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich selected the French design over a competing proposal from the Baltic Works . A contract was signed on 20 July 1898 at a cost of 30 @.@ 28 million francs ( 11 @.@ 355 million rubles ) for delivery in 42 months . 
