Before construction work began, refinements were made to the design based on experiences gathered during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. The defensive battery was increased to guns since the 75 mm guns were no longer sufficiently powerful to deal with modern torpedo boats and destroyers. To save weight, four of the 203 mm guns were removed. Side armor had proved to be critically important in the battles against Japan, and so the ship's armor was strengthened. Despite the weight savings measures, displacement increased by about . The Russian Navy had originally planned to build another two cruisers to the same design in domestic shipyards, but budgetary problems, coupled with the advent of the steam turbine-powered, all-big-gun battlecruisers of the British in 1907 rendered the plans moot.