How big was the Russian navy between the 1600's and the early 1900's and what where their maps, clocks and other navigation technology compared to the French and British. Also I've been trying to find more info on the Russian navy during this period but other than the short paragraph on Wikipedia I've had no luck. So if you have any website or book suggestions I would be very appreciative.
Here are some numbers from XVIII cent.
Prior to 1696 there were little attempts in creating a fleet in Russia. First frigate "Frederick" was build by Holstein merchant expedition (with russian carpenters) in 1636 and wear Holstein banner, lost in the same year in Kaspian Sea. Next ship "Orel" ("Eagle") was built in 1669 and lost during uprising of Stepan Razin.
Peter the Great is considered as father of russian fleet, his main child was Baltic fleet. In 1724 Baltic Fleet had 32 ships (ships-of-the-line), 16 frigates, 8 snows, 85 galleys. ([1] "Дважды Краснознамённый Балтийский Флот", Moscow, Voenizdat, 1990)
After Peter's death fleet shrank and in 1757 it had 19 ships, 5 frigates, 2 bombard ships, 83 galleys. ([1])
Next stage was time of Catherine the Great. Black Sea fleet was founded (1783; in 1787 it had 5 ships, 19 frigates, 1 bombard ship. In 1791 Ushakov had 16 ships, 2 frigates, 2 bombard ships ([2] "Краснознамённый Черноморский флот", Moscow, Voenizdat, 1987)). Baltic fleet still was main navy power, 35 ships, 10 frigates, 2 bombard ships, 163 galleys and scamps in 1789 ([1]).
[1] http://militera.lib.ru/h/baltiyskiy_flot/index.html [russian]
[2] http://militera.lib.ru/h/chernomorskiy_flot/index.html [russian]
For XIXth - early XXth numbers - http://militera.lib.ru/h/zolotarev_kozlov2/index.html [again, russian]