Sovetsky Soyuz class battleship
Encyclopedia
The Sovetsky Soyuz class battleships (Project 23), also known as "Stalin's Republics", were a class of battleship
s begun by the Soviet Union
in the late 1930s but never brought into service. They were designed in response to the battleships being built by Germany. Only four hulls of the sixteen originally planned had been laid down by 1940, when the decision was made to cut the program to only three ships to divert resources to an expanded army rearmament program.
These ships would have rivaled the Imperial Japanese in size if any had been completed, although with significantly weaker firepower: 406 millimetres (16 in) guns compared to the 460 millimetres (18.1 in) guns of the Japanese ships. However they would have been superior to their German rivals, the , at least on paper. The failure of the Soviet armor plate industry to build cemented armor
plates thicker than 230 millimetres (9.1 in) would have negated any advantages from the Sovetsky Soyuz class's thicker armor in combat.
Construction of the first four ships was plagued with difficulties as the Soviet shipbuilding and related industries were not prepared to build such large ships. One battleship, Sovetskaya Belorussiya, was cancelled on 19 October 1940 after serious construction flaws were found. Construction of the other three ships was suspended shortly after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union
in June 1941, and never resumed. All three of the surviving hulls were scrapped in the late 1940s.
proposed a ship of 42000 long tons (42,674.1 t) standard displacement with nine 16-inch (406 mm) guns, in size and appearance similar to the Italian battleship Littorio
then under construction by the company. The U.S. firm of Gibbs & Cox
provided four designs; one for a conventional battleship, and three hybrid designs which combined battleship main armament with a raised flight deck on the central superstructure capable of operating up to 30 aircraft. While these projects proved useful to the Soviets, they decided to proceed with their own designs.
The first Tactical-Technical Requirement (abbreviated in Russian as TTZ) for the large battleship design was issued on 21 February 1936 but proved too ambitious, specifying nine 460 mm guns and a speed of 36 knots on a displacement of 55,000 tons.Aside from the ship's specifications themselves the type of ton is not specified by McLaughlin. The TTZ was revised in May 1936 by Admiral Orlov
, Commander of the Soviet Navy
, reducing speed to 30 knots, and weakening the secondary and anti-aircraft
batteries. A few months later Admiral Orlov further reduced the size of the battleship to 45,000 tons and set the size of the main guns at 406 mm. Shortly afterward, the Soviet Union signed the Anglo-Soviet Quantitative Naval Agreement of 1937 and agreed to follow the terms of the Second London Naval Treaty
that limited battleships to a displacement of 35,560 metric tons (35,000 long tons), although they did add a proviso that allowed them to build ships of unlimited size to face the Imperial Japanese Navy
if they notified the British. Yet another TTZ was approved by Orlov on 3 August for ships of 41,500 tons with an armament of nine 406-millimeter, twelve 152 millimetres (6 in), twelve 100 millimetres (3.9 in), and forty 37 millimetres (1.5 in) guns, a maximum armor thickness of 380 mm (15 in) and a speed of 30 knots.
The design of KB-4, the surface ship design bureau of the Baltic Shipyard
, was selected for further development although the lead designers were convinced that only a larger ship could fulfill the ambitious requirements. They did manage to get agreement on 22 November 1936 for a thickening of the deck armor that raised the displacement to about 47,000 tons. Design work continued on this basis and technical work was completed for a ship of 47,700 tons in April 1937, but the designers continued to press their case for larger ships. The issue was resolved by Premier
Stalin
at a meeting on 4 July when he agreed to increase displacement to about 56,000 tons. This forced the project to begin again.
The timing of the redesign proved to be inauspicious as the Great Purge
was spreading through the ranks of the military and related industries. The original deadline for completion of design work by 15 October was missed, and an incomplete version was presented to the navy's Shipbuilding Administration the next month. A number of details remained to be worked out, including the final design of the machinery plant, the 152 mm guns and the 100 mm gun mounts. In the meantime, extensive and expensive testing was conducted on the ship's hull form, deck armor and torpedo protection; 27 million ruble
s were spent on experimental work in 1938 alone. Over 100 models of the hull were tested in a ship model basin
to find the best hull form and two one-tenth-scale launches were built at Sevastopol
to test the hull's maneuverability. An old steamship was fitted with a replica of the design's armor decks and tested against 500 kilograms (1,102.3 lb) bombs, proving that such ordnance would generally penetrate both the 40 millimetres (1.6 in) upper and 50 millimetres (2 in) middle decks before exploding on the armored deck. The main armor deck was raised one deck in consequence and a splinter deck added underneath it to stop any bomb or shell fragments that might penetrate the armor deck. The underwater protection system was tested on fifteen one-fifth scale models and two full-sized experimental barges. These tests proved that the torpedo belt
system of multiple bulkhead
s was superior to the Pugliese system of a large tube filled with smaller sealed tubes, but it was too late to incorporate these test results into the design as construction was well underway by the time they were completed in late 1939.
A revised design was approved on 28 February 1938 and the first ship was to be laid down on 15 July, but even this design was incomplete and would be revised later. Trials with similarly shaped motor launch
es suggested that the hull's propulsive efficiency would be 1 knot (0.5444 m/s) less than planned, and this was accepted in the November 1938 revision as a maximum speed of 27.5 knots. However, a new propeller design proved to be more efficient and was predicted to increase speed to 28 knots. Another change was the deletion of the centerline rudder when tests showed that the two wing rudders would not be able to counteract its effects if it jammed. The weight toward the stern of the boat was calculated to be too great, producing a substantial trim, or front-to-back angle in the water. To remedy this, the two 100 mm turrets mounted on the quarterdeck were deleted and the height of the armor belt abreast the rear turret was lowered, but this decision was reversed and they were restored by a decision of the State Defense Committee on 14 January 1941. This also forced a revision of the aircraft arrangements as the aircraft catapult
had to be removed from the centerline of the quarterdeck; two catapults were added to the sides of the quarterdeck instead.
of 38.9 metre and at full load a draft of 10.4 metre. They displaced 59150 tonnes (58,215.6 LT) at standard load and 65150 tonnes (64,121 LT) at full load, although weight estimates made in 1940 show that they would have exceeded 60000 tonnes (59,052 LT) standard and 67000 tonnes (65,942 LT) at full load.
The hull form was very full-bodied, especially at the forward magazine
s, where the torpedo protection system added width to the beam. Coupled with the relatively low length-to-beam ratio of 7.14:1, this meant that very powerful turbines were necessary to achieve even modest speeds. Stalin's decision that the Project 23-class ships would use three shafts instead of four increased the load
on each shaft and reduced propulsive efficiency, although it did shorten the length of the armored citadel
and thus overall displacement. Metacentric height
was designed at 3.4 metre and the tactical diameter was estimated at about 1170 metres (3,838.6 ft).
The Sovetsky Soyuz-class ships were provided with aircraft facilities to handle two to four KOR-2
flying boat
s which would be launched by the two catapults mounted on the stern. Two hangars were built into the after end of the forecastle deck to house two of them and cranes were provided at the forward end of the quarterdeck to hoist them out of the water.
The steam turbine
s, and a license to build them, were originally going to be ordered from Cammell Laird
in the United Kingdom, but their £700,000 cost was more than the Soviets wanted to pay. Instead they bought them from Brown Boveri
, using the technical information acquired from Cammell Laird in the process, for £400,000. Four single-reduction, impulse-reduction geared turbines were ordered from the Swiss
firm, three to equip Sovetskaya Rossiya and one to serve as a pattern for the factory in Kharkiv
that was to build the remainder. The three produced a total of 201000 shp. Six triangle-type water-tube boiler
s powered the turbines at a working pressure of 37 kg/cm2 and a temperature of 380 °C (716 °F).
Maximum speed was estimated at 28 knots, using the revised propeller design, although forcing the machinery would yield an extra knot. The normal fuel oil
capacity was 5280 tonnes (5,197 LT), giving an estimated endurance of 6300 nautical miles (11,667.6 km) at 14.5 knots and 1890 nautical miles (3,500.3 km) at full speed. Maximum fuel capacity was 6440 tonnes (6,338 LT) which gave a range of 7680 nautical miles (14,223.4 km) at 14.5 knots and 2305 nautical miles (4,268.9 km) at full speed.
406 mm B-37 guns. The guns could be depressed to −2° and elevated to 45°. They had a fixed loading angle of 6° and their rate of fire varied with the time required to re-aim the guns. It ranged from 2.0 to 2.6 rounds per minute depending on the elevation. The turrets could elevate at a rate of 6.2 degrees per second and traverse at 4.55 degrees per second. 100 rounds per gun were carried. The guns fired 1108 kilograms (2,442.7 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocity
of 830 m/s (2,723.1 ft/s); this provided a maximum range of 45600 metres (49,868.8 yd).
The secondary armament consisted of twelve 57-caliber B-38 152 mm guns mounted in six dual MK-4 turrets. Their elevation limits were −5° to +45° with a fixed loading angle of 8°. Their rate of fire also varied with the elevation from 7.5 to 4.8 rounds per minute. They were provided with 170 rounds per gun. The turrets could elevate at a rate of 13 degrees per second and traverse at 6 degrees per second. They had a maximum range of about 30000 metres (98,425 ft) with a 55 kilograms (121.3 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 950 m/s (3,116.8 ft/s).
Heavy anti-aircraft (AA) fire was provided by a dozen 56-caliber 100 mm B-34 dual-purpose guns in six twin MZ-14 turrets with 400 rounds per gun. The ships began construction with only four turrets, but two additional turrets were restored to the quarterdeck in January 1941. They could elevate to a maximum of 85° and depress to −8°. They could traverse at a rate of 12° per second and elevate at 10° per second. They fired 15.6 kilograms (34.4 lb) high explosive shells at a muzzle velocity of 895 m/s (2,936.4 ft/s); this provided a maximum range of 22241 metres (24,323.1 yd) against surface targets, but their maximum range against aerial targets was 9895 metres (32,463.9 ft), the limit of their time fuse.
Light AA defense was handled by ten quadruple, water-cooled, 46-K mounts fitted with 37 mm (1.5 in) 70-K guns with 1800 rounds per gun. Initially only eight mounts were planned when the ships began construction, but two more were added later, probably in January 1941, one on each side of the forward superstructure. Each mount was fully enclosed to protect the crew from the muzzle blast of the larger guns and against splinters. The guns fired 0.732 kilograms (1.6 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 880 m/s (2,887.1 ft/s). Their effective anti-aircraft range was 4000 metres (13,123 ft).
for use in local control, but they were generally controlled by one of three KDP-8 fire-control directors. These had two 8 metre stereoscopic rangefinders, one to track the target and the other to measure the range to the ship's own shell splashes. Two of these were protected by 20 mm (0.78740157480315 in) of armor and were mounted atop the rear superstructure and the tower-mast. The other was mounted on top of the conning tower
and was protected by 50 mm (2 in) of armor. They used a TsAS-0 mechanical computer to generate firing solutions. Four KDP-4t-II directors, with two 4 metre rangefinders each, controlled the secondary armament. One pair was on either side of the tower-mast and the aft pair was on each side of the aft funnel. Three SPN-300 stabilized directors, each with a 4-meter rangefinder, controlled the heavy anti-aircraft guns. There was one on each side of the forward funnel while the other was atop the rear superstructure.
thicker than 230 mm (9.1 in) which forced the decision to replace cemented plates thicker than 200 mm (7.9 in) with face-hardened
ones with less resistance in November 1940. The plants tended to compensate by making the thicker plates harder, but this often made them more brittle and large numbers did not pass the acceptance tests. This would have significantly reduced the level of protection enjoyed by the Sovetsky Soyuz-class ships in combat.
The Sovetsky Soyuz-class ships devoted a total weight of 23306 tonnes (22,938 LT) to armor protection, a slightly greater weight than that of the larger Japanese Yamato class (23262 tonnes (22,894.5 LT)). Their armor was intended to resist 406 mm shells and 500 kg bombs, specifically shells fired from forward bearings between 35° and 50° from the centerline. This led to the very unusual situation where the armor belt
thickened toward the bow to compensate for the narrowing of the ship near the forward magazines, which had to be compensated for by thicker armor. The belt was 148.4 metre long and covered 57% of the total waterline length. It was inclined 5° to increase its resistance to flat-trajectory shells. Over the machinery spaces it was 375 mm (14.8 in) thick and increased in steps until it was 420 mm (16.5 in) thick over the forward magazines. It was 380 mm (15 in) over the rear magazine. The belt armor was carried forward of the magazines at a thickness of 220 mm (8.7 in) and terminated in a steeply sloped (30°) transverse 285 mm (11.2 in) bulkhead that reduced to 250 mm (9.8 in) at the lower deck where it was continued down to the inner bottom by a 75 millimetres (3 in) bulkhead. Forward of this bulkhead was a 20 mm splinter belt that continued all the way to the bow. The main armor belt dropped down to the main deck from the upper deck abreast the aft turret to reduce weight. This "step" was protected by 180 millimetres (7.1 in) plates. A 365 millimetres (14.4 in) transverse bulkhead separated the rear turret and the ship's sides. The main part of the armored citadel was closed off by a 230 mm forward bulkhead and a 180 mm (7.1 in) rear bulkhead, both of homogeneous armor. Splinter armor 25 mm (0.984251968503937 in) thick covered the upper portion of the citadel.
The forecastle
deck was 25 mm thick while the upper deck was 155 mm (6.1 in) over the citadel. Below it, the 50 mm middle deck acted as a splinter deck. The upper deck was 100 mm thick above the 220 mm waterline belt extension. The bottom edge of the forward splinter belt met with a 65 mm (2.6 in) arched deck. Another arched deck of the same thickness covered the stern aft of the rear transverse bulkhead.
The main gun turrets had faces 495 mm (19.5 in) thick with sides and roofs 230 mm (9.1 in) thick. 180 millimetres (7.1 in) thick plates protected the gun ports and 60 millimetres (2.4 in) bulkheads separated each gun. The barbettes were 425 mm (16.7 in) thick above the upper deck. The MK-4 turrets had 100 mm faces and 65 mm sides. Their barbettes were 100 mm in thickness, but reduced to 65 mm on their inboard sides. 100 mm of armor protected the faces, sides and backs of the MZ-14 turrets for the 100 mm guns, but their roofs and barbettes were 100 mm thick. The forward conning tower had walls 425 mm thick while the rear conning tower had only 220 mm (8.7 in). The flag bridge in the tower-mast had 75 mm (3 in) of protection.
The torpedo
defense system was designed to withstand torpedoes with warheads equivalent to 750 kg (1,653 lb) of TNT. The ships were intended to be able to remain afloat with any five adjacent compartments flooded or with three torpedo hits and the destruction of the unarmored above-water side. The Pugliese system protected 123 metre of the ships' midsection. At the aft end was a multi-bulkhead protection system that extended another 33 metre to the rear from the Pugliese system. The depth of the system was 8.2 metre amidships, but it reduced to 7 metre fore and aft. The outer plating ranged from 11 millimetre in thickness while the inner bottom was 7 mm (0.275590551181102 in) thick. The cylinder of the Pugliese system was also 7 mm thick while the semi-circular main bulkhead was 35 mm (1.4 in) thick with a flat 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) bulkhead behind it. The 3.15 metre diameter cylinder was intended to be immersed in fuel oil
or water.
The Soviet shipbuilding and related industries proved to be incapable of supporting the construction of so many large ships at the same time. The largest warships built in the Soviet Union prior to 1938 were the 8000 tonnes (7,874 LT) s and even they had suffered from a number of production problems, but the Soviet leadership appeared to ignore the difficulties encountered in the construction of the Kirov-class when ordering 14 much more ambitious ships. Construction of two more ships planned for Leningrad
and Nikolayev
had to move to the brand-new Shipyard Nr. 402
in Molotovsk
because the existing shipyards could not be expanded to handle so many large ships. Components for these two ships had to be manufactured at Leningrad and shipped via the White Sea – Baltic Canal to Molotovsk. Also, the turret shop at Nikolaev proved to be too poorly equipped to assemble the 406 mm mountings and the propeller shafts had to be ordered in 1940 from Germany and the Netherlands as the domestic plants were already overburdened with orders. Shipbuilding steel proved to be in short supply in 1940 and a number of batches were rejected because they did not meet specifications. Armor plate production was even more problematic as only 1800 tonnes (1,772 LT) of the anticipated 10000 tonnes (9,842 LT) were delivered in 1939 and more than half of that was rejected. Furthermore the armor plants proved to be incapable of making cemented plates over 230 mm and inferior face-hardened
plates had to substitute for all thicknesses over 200 millimetres (8 in).
Machinery problems were likely to delay the ships well past their intended delivery dates of 1943–44. Three turbines were delivered by Brown Boveri in 1939 to Arkhangelsk
for the Sovetskaya Rossiya, but the Kharkhovskii Turbogenerator Works never completed a single turbine before the German invasion in June 1941. A prototype boiler was supposed to have been built ashore for evaluation, but it was not completed until early 1941, which further complicated the production plan.
Construction of all three ships was ordered halted on 10 July 1941 and the Sovetsky Soyuz was placed into long-term conservation as the most advanced ship. However all three were officially stricken from the Navy List on 10 September 1941.
in Leningrad, although evidence suggests that construction actually began in January 1939 after her slipway was completed, the necessary cranes were in place, and working drawings had been completed. When the war began she was estimated to be 21.19% complete with 15818 tonnes (15,568 LT) of steel assembled on the slip. She was only lightly damaged by German air attacks and bombardments and, as some material had been used during the Siege of Leningrad
, she was estimated to be 19.5% complete after the end of the war. Some thought was given to completing her, but this was opposed as she was regarded as obsolete in light of the experience gained during the war. Stalin's expressed desire to see one of the Project 23-class ships completed only delayed the decision to scrap her; this was ordered on 29 May 1948 and was well underway by April 1949.
in Nikolayev. When the war began she was 17.98% complete with 13001 tonnes (12,796 LT) assembled on the slipway. Some effort was made to launch the hull, but little work had been done to dredge the river at the foot of the slipway and she was captured on 18 August 1941, although retreating Soviet troops slightly damaged her hull. The Germans dismantled 200 feet (61 m) of her bow and 100 feet (30 m) of her stern for use in fortifications. They were forced to evacuate Nikolayev on 17 March 1944 and demolished the supporting blocks under her port side before they left which gave her a list between 5 and 10 degrees and made her a total loss. She was ordered scrapped on 27 March 1947.
in Molotovsk. After the end of the war she was only 0.97% complete with 2125 tonnes (2,091 LT) of steel assembled. She was ordered scrapped on 27 March 1947.
s used in her hull plating were of inferior quality. This fact likely influenced the decision to cancel her on 19 October 1940. Material intended for her construction was used to construct a floating battery
for the defense of Leningrad
.
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s begun by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in the late 1930s but never brought into service. They were designed in response to the battleships being built by Germany. Only four hulls of the sixteen originally planned had been laid down by 1940, when the decision was made to cut the program to only three ships to divert resources to an expanded army rearmament program.
These ships would have rivaled the Imperial Japanese in size if any had been completed, although with significantly weaker firepower: 406 millimetres (16 in) guns compared to the 460 millimetres (18.1 in) guns of the Japanese ships. However they would have been superior to their German rivals, the , at least on paper. The failure of the Soviet armor plate industry to build cemented armor
Krupp cemented armour
Krupp Cemented Armour is a further evolved variant of Krupp Armour, developed during the early years of the 20th Century. The process is largely the same with slight changes in the alloy composition: in % of total – carbon 0.35, nickel 3.90, chromium 2.00, manganese .35, silicon .07, phosphorus...
plates thicker than 230 millimetres (9.1 in) would have negated any advantages from the Sovetsky Soyuz class's thicker armor in combat.
Construction of the first four ships was plagued with difficulties as the Soviet shipbuilding and related industries were not prepared to build such large ships. One battleship, Sovetskaya Belorussiya, was cancelled on 19 October 1940 after serious construction flaws were found. Construction of the other three ships was suspended shortly after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in June 1941, and never resumed. All three of the surviving hulls were scrapped in the late 1940s.
Design and development
Design work began in 1935 on new battleships in response to the existing and planned German battleships, and the Soviets made extensive efforts in Italy and the United States to purchase either drawings or the ships themselves in the late 1930s. The Italian firm of Gio. Ansaldo & C.Gio. Ansaldo & C.
Ansaldo was one of Italy's oldest and most important engineering companies, existing for 140 years from 1853 to 1993.-From foundation to World War I:...
proposed a ship of 42000 long tons (42,674.1 t) standard displacement with nine 16-inch (406 mm) guns, in size and appearance similar to the Italian battleship Littorio
Italian battleship Littorio
|-External links:...
then under construction by the company. The U.S. firm of Gibbs & Cox
Gibbs & Cox
Gibbs & Cox is a U.S. naval architecture firm that specializes in designing surface warships. Founded in 1922 in New York City, Gibbs & Cox is now headquartered in Arlington, Virginia....
provided four designs; one for a conventional battleship, and three hybrid designs which combined battleship main armament with a raised flight deck on the central superstructure capable of operating up to 30 aircraft. While these projects proved useful to the Soviets, they decided to proceed with their own designs.
The first Tactical-Technical Requirement (abbreviated in Russian as TTZ) for the large battleship design was issued on 21 February 1936 but proved too ambitious, specifying nine 460 mm guns and a speed of 36 knots on a displacement of 55,000 tons.Aside from the ship's specifications themselves the type of ton is not specified by McLaughlin. The TTZ was revised in May 1936 by Admiral Orlov
Vladimir Mitrofanovich Orlov
Vladimir Mitrofanovich Orlov was a Russian military leader and Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Naval Forces from July 1931 to July 1937....
, Commander of the Soviet Navy
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
, reducing speed to 30 knots, and weakening the secondary and anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
batteries. A few months later Admiral Orlov further reduced the size of the battleship to 45,000 tons and set the size of the main guns at 406 mm. Shortly afterward, the Soviet Union signed the Anglo-Soviet Quantitative Naval Agreement of 1937 and agreed to follow the terms of the Second London Naval Treaty
Second London Naval Treaty
The Second London Naval Disarmament Conference opened in London, the United Kingdom, on 9 December 1935. It resulted in the Second London Naval Treaty which was signed on 25 March 1936.- Description :...
that limited battleships to a displacement of 35,560 metric tons (35,000 long tons), although they did add a proviso that allowed them to build ships of unlimited size to face the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
if they notified the British. Yet another TTZ was approved by Orlov on 3 August for ships of 41,500 tons with an armament of nine 406-millimeter, twelve 152 millimetres (6 in), twelve 100 millimetres (3.9 in), and forty 37 millimetres (1.5 in) guns, a maximum armor thickness of 380 mm (15 in) and a speed of 30 knots.
The design of KB-4, the surface ship design bureau of the Baltic Shipyard
Baltic Shipyard
The Baltic Shipyard is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia. It is located in Saint Petersburg in the south-western part of the Vasilievsky Island. It is one of the three shipyards active in Saint Petersburg...
, was selected for further development although the lead designers were convinced that only a larger ship could fulfill the ambitious requirements. They did manage to get agreement on 22 November 1936 for a thickening of the deck armor that raised the displacement to about 47,000 tons. Design work continued on this basis and technical work was completed for a ship of 47,700 tons in April 1937, but the designers continued to press their case for larger ships. The issue was resolved by Premier
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in some countries and states.-Examples by country:In many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister"...
Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
at a meeting on 4 July when he agreed to increase displacement to about 56,000 tons. This forced the project to begin again.
The timing of the redesign proved to be inauspicious as the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
was spreading through the ranks of the military and related industries. The original deadline for completion of design work by 15 October was missed, and an incomplete version was presented to the navy's Shipbuilding Administration the next month. A number of details remained to be worked out, including the final design of the machinery plant, the 152 mm guns and the 100 mm gun mounts. In the meantime, extensive and expensive testing was conducted on the ship's hull form, deck armor and torpedo protection; 27 million ruble
Ruble
The ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...
s were spent on experimental work in 1938 alone. Over 100 models of the hull were tested in a ship model basin
Ship model basin
A ship model basin may be defined as one of two separate yet related entities, namely:* a physical basin or tank used to carry out hydrodynamic tests with ship models, for the purpose of designing a new ship, or refining the design of a ship to improve the ship's performance at sea;* the...
to find the best hull form and two one-tenth-scale launches were built at Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
to test the hull's maneuverability. An old steamship was fitted with a replica of the design's armor decks and tested against 500 kilograms (1,102.3 lb) bombs, proving that such ordnance would generally penetrate both the 40 millimetres (1.6 in) upper and 50 millimetres (2 in) middle decks before exploding on the armored deck. The main armor deck was raised one deck in consequence and a splinter deck added underneath it to stop any bomb or shell fragments that might penetrate the armor deck. The underwater protection system was tested on fifteen one-fifth scale models and two full-sized experimental barges. These tests proved that the torpedo belt
Torpedo belt
The torpedo belt was part of the armouring scheme in some warships of between the 1920s and 1940s. It consisted of a series of lightly armoured compartments, extending laterally along a narrow belt that intersected the ship's waterline...
system of multiple bulkhead
Bulkhead (partition)
A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an airplane. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.-Etymology:...
s was superior to the Pugliese system of a large tube filled with smaller sealed tubes, but it was too late to incorporate these test results into the design as construction was well underway by the time they were completed in late 1939.
A revised design was approved on 28 February 1938 and the first ship was to be laid down on 15 July, but even this design was incomplete and would be revised later. Trials with similarly shaped motor launch
Motor Launch
A Motor Launch is a small military vessel in British navy service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing or for armed high speed air-sea rescue....
es suggested that the hull's propulsive efficiency would be 1 knot (0.5444 m/s) less than planned, and this was accepted in the November 1938 revision as a maximum speed of 27.5 knots. However, a new propeller design proved to be more efficient and was predicted to increase speed to 28 knots. Another change was the deletion of the centerline rudder when tests showed that the two wing rudders would not be able to counteract its effects if it jammed. The weight toward the stern of the boat was calculated to be too great, producing a substantial trim, or front-to-back angle in the water. To remedy this, the two 100 mm turrets mounted on the quarterdeck were deleted and the height of the armor belt abreast the rear turret was lowered, but this decision was reversed and they were restored by a decision of the State Defense Committee on 14 January 1941. This also forced a revision of the aircraft arrangements as the aircraft catapult
Aircraft catapult
An aircraft catapult is a device used to launch aircraft from ships—in particular aircraft carriers—as a form of assisted take off. It consists of a track built into the flight deck, below which is a large piston or shuttle that is attached through the track to the nose gear of the aircraft, or in...
had to be removed from the centerline of the quarterdeck; two catapults were added to the sides of the quarterdeck instead.
General characteristics
As designed, the Project 23-class ships, as Sovetsky Soyuz and her sisters were designated, were 269.4 metre long overall. They had a beamBeam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 38.9 metre and at full load a draft of 10.4 metre. They displaced 59150 tonnes (58,215.6 LT) at standard load and 65150 tonnes (64,121 LT) at full load, although weight estimates made in 1940 show that they would have exceeded 60000 tonnes (59,052 LT) standard and 67000 tonnes (65,942 LT) at full load.
The hull form was very full-bodied, especially at the forward magazine
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
s, where the torpedo protection system added width to the beam. Coupled with the relatively low length-to-beam ratio of 7.14:1, this meant that very powerful turbines were necessary to achieve even modest speeds. Stalin's decision that the Project 23-class ships would use three shafts instead of four increased the load
Structural load
Structural loads or actions are forces, deformations or accelerations applied to a structure or its components.Loads cause stresses, deformations and displacements in structures. Assessment of their effects is carried out by the methods of structural analysis...
on each shaft and reduced propulsive efficiency, although it did shorten the length of the armored citadel
Armored citadel
A term for the armored box enclosing the machinery and magazine spaces. It was formed by the armored deck, the waterline belt and the transverse bulkheads....
and thus overall displacement. Metacentric height
Metacentric height
The metacentric height is a measurement of the static stability of a floating body. It is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre . A larger metacentric height implies greater stability against overturning...
was designed at 3.4 metre and the tactical diameter was estimated at about 1170 metres (3,838.6 ft).
The Sovetsky Soyuz-class ships were provided with aircraft facilities to handle two to four KOR-2
Beriev Be-4
-External links:* at Century of Flight* at Russian Aviation Museum...
flying boat
Flying boat
A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...
s which would be launched by the two catapults mounted on the stern. Two hangars were built into the after end of the forecastle deck to house two of them and cranes were provided at the forward end of the quarterdeck to hoist them out of the water.
Machinery
The machinery arrangement was unusual; working from fore to aft, the turbine compartments for the wing shafts were located immediately abaft the magazines for turret No. 2, separated by a narrow centerline compartment for various ship control stations as well as the main fire control post; then came No. 1 boiler room, then a short compartment, then No. 2 boiler room, followed by another short compartment, then the engine room for the center shaft's turbine flanked by turbo-generator compartments, and finally boiler room No. 3. Each boiler room contained two boilers. This unusual arrangement, somewhat reminiscent of Italian practice, provided good dispersal of the machinery spaces, but at the cost of very long runs for the wing shafts (ca. 105 metres (344.5 ft)); it also meant that the boilers in Nos. 1 and 2 boiler rooms had to be raised sufficiently for the wing propeller shafts to pass beneath them.
The steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s, and a license to build them, were originally going to be ordered from Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...
in the United Kingdom, but their £700,000 cost was more than the Soviets wanted to pay. Instead they bought them from Brown Boveri
Brown, Boveri & Cie
Brown, Boveri & Cie was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies.It was founded in Baden, Switzerland, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 1970 BBC took over the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon...
, using the technical information acquired from Cammell Laird in the process, for £400,000. Four single-reduction, impulse-reduction geared turbines were ordered from the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
firm, three to equip Sovetskaya Rossiya and one to serve as a pattern for the factory in Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
that was to build the remainder. The three produced a total of 201000 shp. Six triangle-type water-tube boiler
Water-tube boiler
A water tube boiler is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which heats water in the steam-generating tubes...
s powered the turbines at a working pressure of 37 kg/cm2 and a temperature of 380 °C (716 °F).
Maximum speed was estimated at 28 knots, using the revised propeller design, although forcing the machinery would yield an extra knot. The normal fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
capacity was 5280 tonnes (5,197 LT), giving an estimated endurance of 6300 nautical miles (11,667.6 km) at 14.5 knots and 1890 nautical miles (3,500.3 km) at full speed. Maximum fuel capacity was 6440 tonnes (6,338 LT) which gave a range of 7680 nautical miles (14,223.4 km) at 14.5 knots and 2305 nautical miles (4,268.9 km) at full speed.
Armament
The main armament consisted of three electrically powered MK-1 triple turrets, each with three 50-caliberCaliber (artillery)
In artillery, caliber or calibredifference in British English and American English spelling is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or by extension a relative measure of the length....
406 mm B-37 guns. The guns could be depressed to −2° and elevated to 45°. They had a fixed loading angle of 6° and their rate of fire varied with the time required to re-aim the guns. It ranged from 2.0 to 2.6 rounds per minute depending on the elevation. The turrets could elevate at a rate of 6.2 degrees per second and traverse at 4.55 degrees per second. 100 rounds per gun were carried. The guns fired 1108 kilograms (2,442.7 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
of 830 m/s (2,723.1 ft/s); this provided a maximum range of 45600 metres (49,868.8 yd).
The secondary armament consisted of twelve 57-caliber B-38 152 mm guns mounted in six dual MK-4 turrets. Their elevation limits were −5° to +45° with a fixed loading angle of 8°. Their rate of fire also varied with the elevation from 7.5 to 4.8 rounds per minute. They were provided with 170 rounds per gun. The turrets could elevate at a rate of 13 degrees per second and traverse at 6 degrees per second. They had a maximum range of about 30000 metres (98,425 ft) with a 55 kilograms (121.3 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 950 m/s (3,116.8 ft/s).
Heavy anti-aircraft (AA) fire was provided by a dozen 56-caliber 100 mm B-34 dual-purpose guns in six twin MZ-14 turrets with 400 rounds per gun. The ships began construction with only four turrets, but two additional turrets were restored to the quarterdeck in January 1941. They could elevate to a maximum of 85° and depress to −8°. They could traverse at a rate of 12° per second and elevate at 10° per second. They fired 15.6 kilograms (34.4 lb) high explosive shells at a muzzle velocity of 895 m/s (2,936.4 ft/s); this provided a maximum range of 22241 metres (24,323.1 yd) against surface targets, but their maximum range against aerial targets was 9895 metres (32,463.9 ft), the limit of their time fuse.
Light AA defense was handled by ten quadruple, water-cooled, 46-K mounts fitted with 37 mm (1.5 in) 70-K guns with 1800 rounds per gun. Initially only eight mounts were planned when the ships began construction, but two more were added later, probably in January 1941, one on each side of the forward superstructure. Each mount was fully enclosed to protect the crew from the muzzle blast of the larger guns and against splinters. The guns fired 0.732 kilograms (1.6 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 880 m/s (2,887.1 ft/s). Their effective anti-aircraft range was 4000 metres (13,123 ft).
Fire control
Each main gun turret was given a DM-12 12 metre rangefinderRangefinder
A rangefinder is a device that measures distance from the observer to a target, for the purposes of surveying, determining focus in photography, or accurately aiming a weapon. Some devices use active methods to measure ; others measure distance using trigonometry...
for use in local control, but they were generally controlled by one of three KDP-8 fire-control directors. These had two 8 metre stereoscopic rangefinders, one to track the target and the other to measure the range to the ship's own shell splashes. Two of these were protected by 20 mm (0.78740157480315 in) of armor and were mounted atop the rear superstructure and the tower-mast. The other was mounted on top of the conning tower
Conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....
and was protected by 50 mm (2 in) of armor. They used a TsAS-0 mechanical computer to generate firing solutions. Four KDP-4t-II directors, with two 4 metre rangefinders each, controlled the secondary armament. One pair was on either side of the tower-mast and the aft pair was on each side of the aft funnel. Three SPN-300 stabilized directors, each with a 4-meter rangefinder, controlled the heavy anti-aircraft guns. There was one on each side of the forward funnel while the other was atop the rear superstructure.
Armor
Soviet armor plate plants proved incapable of producing plates of cemented armorKrupp armour
Krupp armour was a type of steel armour used in the construction of capital ships starting shortly before the end of the 19th century. It was developed by Germany's Krupp Arms Works in 1893 and quickly replaced Harvey armour as the primary method of protecting naval ships.The initial manufacturing...
thicker than 230 mm (9.1 in) which forced the decision to replace cemented plates thicker than 200 mm (7.9 in) with face-hardened
Case hardening
Case hardening or surface hardening is the process of hardening the surface of a metal, often a low carbon steel, by infusing elements into the material's surface, forming a thin layer of a harder alloy...
ones with less resistance in November 1940. The plants tended to compensate by making the thicker plates harder, but this often made them more brittle and large numbers did not pass the acceptance tests. This would have significantly reduced the level of protection enjoyed by the Sovetsky Soyuz-class ships in combat.
The Sovetsky Soyuz-class ships devoted a total weight of 23306 tonnes (22,938 LT) to armor protection, a slightly greater weight than that of the larger Japanese Yamato class (23262 tonnes (22,894.5 LT)). Their armor was intended to resist 406 mm shells and 500 kg bombs, specifically shells fired from forward bearings between 35° and 50° from the centerline. This led to the very unusual situation where the armor belt
Belt armor
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated on to or within outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and on aircraft carriers converted from those types of ships....
thickened toward the bow to compensate for the narrowing of the ship near the forward magazines, which had to be compensated for by thicker armor. The belt was 148.4 metre long and covered 57% of the total waterline length. It was inclined 5° to increase its resistance to flat-trajectory shells. Over the machinery spaces it was 375 mm (14.8 in) thick and increased in steps until it was 420 mm (16.5 in) thick over the forward magazines. It was 380 mm (15 in) over the rear magazine. The belt armor was carried forward of the magazines at a thickness of 220 mm (8.7 in) and terminated in a steeply sloped (30°) transverse 285 mm (11.2 in) bulkhead that reduced to 250 mm (9.8 in) at the lower deck where it was continued down to the inner bottom by a 75 millimetres (3 in) bulkhead. Forward of this bulkhead was a 20 mm splinter belt that continued all the way to the bow. The main armor belt dropped down to the main deck from the upper deck abreast the aft turret to reduce weight. This "step" was protected by 180 millimetres (7.1 in) plates. A 365 millimetres (14.4 in) transverse bulkhead separated the rear turret and the ship's sides. The main part of the armored citadel was closed off by a 230 mm forward bulkhead and a 180 mm (7.1 in) rear bulkhead, both of homogeneous armor. Splinter armor 25 mm (0.984251968503937 in) thick covered the upper portion of the citadel.
The forecastle
Forecastle
Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...
deck was 25 mm thick while the upper deck was 155 mm (6.1 in) over the citadel. Below it, the 50 mm middle deck acted as a splinter deck. The upper deck was 100 mm thick above the 220 mm waterline belt extension. The bottom edge of the forward splinter belt met with a 65 mm (2.6 in) arched deck. Another arched deck of the same thickness covered the stern aft of the rear transverse bulkhead.
The main gun turrets had faces 495 mm (19.5 in) thick with sides and roofs 230 mm (9.1 in) thick. 180 millimetres (7.1 in) thick plates protected the gun ports and 60 millimetres (2.4 in) bulkheads separated each gun. The barbettes were 425 mm (16.7 in) thick above the upper deck. The MK-4 turrets had 100 mm faces and 65 mm sides. Their barbettes were 100 mm in thickness, but reduced to 65 mm on their inboard sides. 100 mm of armor protected the faces, sides and backs of the MZ-14 turrets for the 100 mm guns, but their roofs and barbettes were 100 mm thick. The forward conning tower had walls 425 mm thick while the rear conning tower had only 220 mm (8.7 in). The flag bridge in the tower-mast had 75 mm (3 in) of protection.
The torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
defense system was designed to withstand torpedoes with warheads equivalent to 750 kg (1,653 lb) of TNT. The ships were intended to be able to remain afloat with any five adjacent compartments flooded or with three torpedo hits and the destruction of the unarmored above-water side. The Pugliese system protected 123 metre of the ships' midsection. At the aft end was a multi-bulkhead protection system that extended another 33 metre to the rear from the Pugliese system. The depth of the system was 8.2 metre amidships, but it reduced to 7 metre fore and aft. The outer plating ranged from 11 millimetre in thickness while the inner bottom was 7 mm (0.275590551181102 in) thick. The cylinder of the Pugliese system was also 7 mm thick while the semi-circular main bulkhead was 35 mm (1.4 in) thick with a flat 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) bulkhead behind it. The 3.15 metre diameter cylinder was intended to be immersed in fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
or water.
Construction
The August 1938 shipbuilding plan envisioned a total of 15 Project 23-class battleships, and this grandiose scheme was only slightly revised downward to 14 ships in the August 1939 plan. Eight of these were to be laid down before 1942 and the remaining six before 1947. However, only four were actually laid down before the outbreak of World War II forced the Soviets to reassess their ambitious plans. On 19 October 1940 an order was issued, signed by Stalin and Molotov, that no new battleships would be laid down in order to concentrate on smaller ships' building (and also, probably, because more resources were required for the Army), one ship is to be scrapped, and priority should be given to only one of the three remaining battleships.The Soviet shipbuilding and related industries proved to be incapable of supporting the construction of so many large ships at the same time. The largest warships built in the Soviet Union prior to 1938 were the 8000 tonnes (7,874 LT) s and even they had suffered from a number of production problems, but the Soviet leadership appeared to ignore the difficulties encountered in the construction of the Kirov-class when ordering 14 much more ambitious ships. Construction of two more ships planned for Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
and Nikolayev
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv , also known as Nikolayev , is a city in southern Ukraine, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is the main ship building center of the Black Sea, and, arguably, the whole Eastern Europe.-Name of city:...
had to move to the brand-new Shipyard Nr. 402
Sevmash
JSC PO Sevmash is a shipbuilding company based in Severodvinsk, a port city on Russia's White Sea. The name Sevmash is an abbreviation of Severnoye Mashinostroitelnoye Predpriyatie , i.e. "Northern Machine-Building Enterprise". Sevmash is the largest shipbuilding enterprise in Russia and today the...
in Molotovsk
Severodvinsk
Severodvinsk is a city in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located in the delta of the Northern Dvina River, west of Arkhangelsk. Administratively, it is incorporated as a town of oblast significance . Municipally, it is incorporated as Severodvinsk Urban Okrug. The city was founded as...
because the existing shipyards could not be expanded to handle so many large ships. Components for these two ships had to be manufactured at Leningrad and shipped via the White Sea – Baltic Canal to Molotovsk. Also, the turret shop at Nikolaev proved to be too poorly equipped to assemble the 406 mm mountings and the propeller shafts had to be ordered in 1940 from Germany and the Netherlands as the domestic plants were already overburdened with orders. Shipbuilding steel proved to be in short supply in 1940 and a number of batches were rejected because they did not meet specifications. Armor plate production was even more problematic as only 1800 tonnes (1,772 LT) of the anticipated 10000 tonnes (9,842 LT) were delivered in 1939 and more than half of that was rejected. Furthermore the armor plants proved to be incapable of making cemented plates over 230 mm and inferior face-hardened
Case hardening
Case hardening or surface hardening is the process of hardening the surface of a metal, often a low carbon steel, by infusing elements into the material's surface, forming a thin layer of a harder alloy...
plates had to substitute for all thicknesses over 200 millimetres (8 in).
Machinery problems were likely to delay the ships well past their intended delivery dates of 1943–44. Three turbines were delivered by Brown Boveri in 1939 to Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
for the Sovetskaya Rossiya, but the Kharkhovskii Turbogenerator Works never completed a single turbine before the German invasion in June 1941. A prototype boiler was supposed to have been built ashore for evaluation, but it was not completed until early 1941, which further complicated the production plan.
Construction of all three ships was ordered halted on 10 July 1941 and the Sovetsky Soyuz was placed into long-term conservation as the most advanced ship. However all three were officially stricken from the Navy List on 10 September 1941.
Sovetsky Soyuz
Sovetsky Soyuz (—Soviet Union) was formally laid down 15 July 1938 in Shipyard Nr. 189 (Ordzhonikidze)Baltic Shipyard
The Baltic Shipyard is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia. It is located in Saint Petersburg in the south-western part of the Vasilievsky Island. It is one of the three shipyards active in Saint Petersburg...
in Leningrad, although evidence suggests that construction actually began in January 1939 after her slipway was completed, the necessary cranes were in place, and working drawings had been completed. When the war began she was estimated to be 21.19% complete with 15818 tonnes (15,568 LT) of steel assembled on the slip. She was only lightly damaged by German air attacks and bombardments and, as some material had been used during the Siege of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
, she was estimated to be 19.5% complete after the end of the war. Some thought was given to completing her, but this was opposed as she was regarded as obsolete in light of the experience gained during the war. Stalin's expressed desire to see one of the Project 23-class ships completed only delayed the decision to scrap her; this was ordered on 29 May 1948 and was well underway by April 1949.
Sovetskaya Ukraina
Sovetskaya Ukraina (—Soviet Ukraine) was laid down 31 October 1938 at Shipyard Nr. 198 (Marti South)Black Sea Shipyard
The Black Sea Shipyard is located in Mykolaiv, Ukraine and is the largest shipyard with near direct access to the Black Sea. It is most often referred to as the Nikolayev South Shipyard and was known as Soviet Shipyard No...
in Nikolayev. When the war began she was 17.98% complete with 13001 tonnes (12,796 LT) assembled on the slipway. Some effort was made to launch the hull, but little work had been done to dredge the river at the foot of the slipway and she was captured on 18 August 1941, although retreating Soviet troops slightly damaged her hull. The Germans dismantled 200 feet (61 m) of her bow and 100 feet (30 m) of her stern for use in fortifications. They were forced to evacuate Nikolayev on 17 March 1944 and demolished the supporting blocks under her port side before they left which gave her a list between 5 and 10 degrees and made her a total loss. She was ordered scrapped on 27 March 1947.
Sovetskaya Rossiya
Sovetskaya Rossiya (—Soviet Russia) was laid down on 22 July 1940 in Shipyard Nr. 402Sevmash
JSC PO Sevmash is a shipbuilding company based in Severodvinsk, a port city on Russia's White Sea. The name Sevmash is an abbreviation of Severnoye Mashinostroitelnoye Predpriyatie , i.e. "Northern Machine-Building Enterprise". Sevmash is the largest shipbuilding enterprise in Russia and today the...
in Molotovsk. After the end of the war she was only 0.97% complete with 2125 tonnes (2,091 LT) of steel assembled. She was ordered scrapped on 27 March 1947.
Sovetskaya Belorussiya
Sovetskaya Belorussiya (—Soviet Belorussia) was laid down 21 December 1939 at Shipyard Nr. 402 in Molotovsk, but construction was suspended in mid-1940 when it was discovered that 70,000 rivetRivet
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck-tail. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or pre-drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked A rivet...
s used in her hull plating were of inferior quality. This fact likely influenced the decision to cancel her on 19 October 1940. Material intended for her construction was used to construct a floating battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
for the defense of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
.
External links
See also
- K-1000 battleshipK-1000 battleshipThe K-1000 battleship was rumoured to be a type of advanced battleship produced by the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Cold War. Soviet intelligence agencies actively encouraged the circulation of rumours about the type, which were reprinted by several Western journals including Jane's...
, a purported class of Soviet battleships to succeed Sovetsky Soyuz, promulgated hoax of the Soviet government