Admiralty Shipyard
The "Pallada" cruisers were built in the New Admiralty Shipyard in Saint Petersburg to reinforce the Baltic Fleet. However, the cruisers were intended to operate on commerce raiding operations worldwide, especially in the Far East. Initially the Imperial Russian Navy looked at foreign designs, including the Royal Navy′s and then the before deciding to proceed with a domestic design. Although the armor protection of the "Pallada" class was still light, it represented a significant improvement over preceding Russian cruiser designs.