Soviet Navy Lead Destroyer, Project 1/48: Kiev, Yerevan, Petrozavods, Ochakov, Perekop, Stalinabad, Ashkhaba, Alma-Ata The Kiev class, officially Project 48, were designed in 1939 in order to provide the Soviet Navy with a small class of destroyer leaders after the cancellation of the Tashkent-class, juged way too expensive. Only three were started, one cancelled and … Read more
A Long lineage and new standard: Novik (1911) Russian Empire/Soviet Navy 1910-1941 In destroyer history, there are a few landmarks most authors agrees upon. Let’s cite for example the Spanish Destructor in 1886, recoignized generally as the earliest torpedo boat destroyer, the British Daring class in 1893, the US Bainbridge class inaugurated their own lineages, … Read more
WW2 Soviet Cruisers Between prewar, interwar and cold war designs, the Soviet Union’s Navy (Sovietsky Flota) aligned about 32 cruisers, many after the 1917 being relics of the pf even before the war of 1877 or the Russo-Japanese war. Those built afterwards were either designed to take the place of the cruisers sunk and captured, … Read more
WW2 Soviet Submarine Hunters Development of sub-chasers: The WWI experience Submarine-chasers (or “submersible” chasers as they shoud be called) appeared in WWI, developed from sloops and often built by civilian yards. Many were converted trawlers. During the great war, the Russian Imperial navy used for that task a variety of “guard ships”, clearly distinct from … Read more
Soviet Navy – 327 minesweepers 1924-45 Introduction: Soviet Mine warfare WW2 About early Russian naval mines & tactics: The Russians wre pioneers of mine warfare. They started to use them during the Crimean War, laying some 1,865 in the Baltic Sea to channel enemy ships into the path of fortification’s heavy guns. This was basically … Read more
Soviet Navy 1921-45: Circa 400 Boats During WW2, the Soviet Navy went on producting motor torpedo boats in larger numbers than any other warship. Cheap and capable of operating on rivers as well, with gunboats, they soon proved highly valuable to perforom a large variety of roles, from the black sea to the baltic and … Read more
Project 68 Chapayev class cruisers (1941) 5 cruisers (1941): Chapayev, Zheleznyakov, Kuybyshev, Chkalov, Frunze The Chapayev class cruisers were a continuation of Soviet cruiser design of the 1930s. Although USSR was not a signatory of the Washington treaty in 1921, the naval staff was well aware of the developments of the time, in the West … Read more
Soviet Navy – 238 submersibles 1928-45 Boats surviving the civil war long before the civil war, with the appearance of the first submarines at the occasion of the 1878 war, to negate the advantage of the massive Ottoman Turk navy, and in 1905, as a way to counterbalance the Japanese Imperial Navy. The delfin, Kasatka, … Read more
Soviet Navy Stalin’s mighty battleships: In 1938, the final five-year plan, under the express direction of Stalin, included a fleet of 19 ships of the line. Among these were fast battleships to succeed the old dreadnoughts of the Gangut and Imperatritza Maria class. The Sovetsky Soyuz were defined from the authorization of January 21, 1938 … Read more
Soviet Navy Porject 26 light cruisers (1930-60): Kirov, Vorochilov The first modern interwar cruisers built in USSR were the Kirov class. Three series of ships, sub-class pairs, were built with gradual improvements, like the Italian Condotierri class. And this comparison is not random. Their design was indeed very heavily influenced by Italian designers and Shipyards, … Read more
