The "Borodino"-class ships were based on the design of the French-built , modified to suit Russian equipment and building practices. They were built under the 1898 program "for the needs of the Far East" to concentrate ten battleships in the Pacific. "Knyaz Suvorov" was long at the waterline and long overall, with a beam of and a draft of , more than designed. Her normal displacement was , almost more than her designed displacement of . Her intended crew consisted of 28 officers and 754 enlisted men, although she carried 928 crewmen during the Battle of Tsushima.