The Soviet Red Fleet: the first years

[TheOtherPoster]

The Fleet



Most of the fleet is in Reserve status to save money. Now that the budget has been so much reduced after the war, we have to fight for every kopeck.

Building

[TheOtherPoster]

Coastal Defences

In June 1928 we finished the new airbases in the Baltic and MTBs



Tensions are very low, as it usually happens after a war, and that means that even our tight budget is threatened unless some international political tension surges soon. In fact there are already calls in the Party to increase the budget of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. They want to build a new huge military/scientific complex.

In June there was some trouble in the Balkans (surprise, surprise) and I used it to try to raise tensions but to not much effect.

In the main time, we are developing our next generation of Fleet Destroyers.
Somehow the guys in the Naval Design Bureau have managed to squish in 2000t: 4x6” guns in two twin turrets, 2x4”DP in one twin turret, 12 torpedoes, 20 mines and 4 DC throwers. Good for them, this achievement is quite a “tour de force” that shows their great abilities.

[TheOtherPoster]

In July BB Ulyanovsk is still finishing building. Even now that he war is finished we still have serious problems to find enough skilled works for the dockyards. The Commissariat of Defence has been moving many of our best workers to other factories to build tanks for the Red Army. The ship would be finally handed over to the Red Fleet in August but as it’s been happening too often, the ship is unable to reach her design speed of 27 knots. I think our designers are doing a decent work but they are being let down by the engineers and workers in the shipyards that only deliver ships after long delays and often unable to reach design speeds. We need to focus on improving that but I’m not sure if we can do much.

The very old Krashnyy Krym light cruisers have given a sterling service but it’s time to let them go. Still, we do not have enough modern cruisers in the fleet so they will have to soldier for a bit longer.

The fleet requirements we had set for the Northern Russia ports (Murmansk and Archangelsk) are 12,000t. But that’s the very maximum those ports can handle. Our needs are covered now with one of the old Krym CLs and some colonial KEs. We have decided to replace those assets. We will build two small colonial light cruisers to fulfil our strategic needs in the area, the Almanz class




In view of the latest war, in July this year of 1929 the Presidium of the USSR issued a new directive to the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and the Commissariat of Defence regarding our foreign policy for the future.
1. Our current policy of supporting revolutionary movements in the most advanced capitalist nations was responsible for the latest war in which 3 of them, with the 3 most powerful navies in the world, allied themselves and fought a war against the Soviet Union.
2. We extricated ourselves from such a situation after renouncing to world revolution and to finance foreign communist groups.
3. Nevertheless, the Politburo had already concluded that we had to change our foreign policy in order to avoid fighting in the future another war against an alliance of capitalist powers: a long war against such an alliance could have threaten even the survival of the Soviet Union and the Revolution.
4. So a new more conciliating policy towards these nations has been devised: we will befriend reformist leftist parties in those countries, even the despised social-democrats and make sure the communist parties also play within the legal frame of the bourgeois system. This will make the activities of the Komintern more acceptable in those countries.
5. The Soviet Union and the Communist Party cannot and will not renounce to the liberation of the world proletariat. But this new policy will make possible that we tackle capitalist powers one by one. The task of the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs will be to make sure we keep good relations with capitalist powers, so they do not intervene when we go to war against one of them, and if possible to sign an alliance with one of them that will help us reaching our objectives.
6. Two minor states, China and Spain, have been identified as nations where objective social, political and economic circumstances are making possible a communist revolution. In those two countries we will continue our previous policy to overturn their bourgeois governments and help the communists to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. If necessary we will initiate a war against them. The Fleet will be instrumental on that.

Good news in the political arena: in August the alliance between Britain and the US expired. And after we ”officially” abandoned our revolutionary strategy against the big imperialist powers, the Anglo-American alliance was not renewed.

Research: in October we developed secondary directors for CLs.

In November 1929 Germany and Japan signed an alliance. This has taken the Presidium by surprise, but it’s now understood that those countries have a separate dynamic from the US, UK and France and are moving towards more authoritarian far-right nationalistic positions. We will monitor them closely.

[TheOtherPoster]

JANUARY 1929

New BC

We have designed a second BC. To take advantage of the new expanding docks it will have 41500t displacement. It’s loosely based on (still building) BC Komintern but we managed to add an extra gun (7 in total) and give her better deck protection. The ship will be named BC Voroshilov.



Also finally now in January our second Novorossiysk-class battleship (all-forward 9x16” guns) has been handed over by the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard.

In February, with our funds improving thanks to the finishing of the BB, we started a new expansion of the shipyards to keep up with foreign designs.

[TheOtherPoster]

Fleet Morale

A serious scandal in April: the NKVD arrested Kapitan Shapochkin accused of contra-revolutionary activities. He’s going to be executed. There’s nothing we can do for him. Beria himself is involved in this case. He has “asked” that the NKVD be allowed to carry out further investigations to make sure of the loyalty of Navy officers and sailors. With my prestige inside the Party so low I had to agree. And the consequences were even worse that I hoped for. This has been a mistake.


Things improved in August after I personally pushed for a football match against the Red Army team. Our boys won 3-0. Morale in the fleet, and my prestige, improved.

[TheOtherPoster]

New CL

As we can now build light cruisers up to 10,000t we have designed a new class: it will be armed with 12x6” guns in 4 twin turrets. If we build two of this class we would reach 8 modern light cruisers




December 1929: as expected, with tensions still low, our budget was finally cut.




It seems the money has not gone to start this great military research complex: instead it has been decided to use that money to organise a year-long world tour for the Bolshoi and the Leningrad Philharmonic to show the decadent capitalists that the Soviet Union is the worker’s paradise where High culture is for everybody. Great news, just great news.

[TheOtherPoster]

JANUARY 1930. International Relations

No much tension in international arena yet. That is not very good for us as it may herald another budget cut by the Supreme Soviet.

Still, alliances are a bit worrying: Germany is allied both with Italy and Japan, while Britain and France are still allied too.



It seems Britain’s economic power starts to fail (or rather everybody else is catching up) although they still command the biggest navy in the world. But probably not for long: the US navy is consistently growing very fast, even for them.

[TheOtherPoster]

1930. Our Forces

The Fleet

Coastal Defences: Coastal guns, MTBs, airbases

[TheOtherPoster]

The Five-Year Naval Plan


Building




The new 1930-1934 building plan has now been approved. It will provide for the following forces by 31/12/1934:

1. The Battle Fleet
     6 battleships
     2 battlecruisers
     2 carriers
     8 cruisers
   31 Destroyers

As follows
2 BB Novorossiysk, 38500t, 9x16”, 26 knots (they were designed for 27 knots but only made 26)
2 BB Sovietsky Soyuz, 32500t, 8x16”, 25 knots
2 BB Svobodnaya Rossiya, 28700, 10x14”, 21 knots
1 BC Voroshilov, 41500t, 7x16”, 31 knots
1 BC Komintern, 37900t, 6x16”, 30 knots
2 CL Avrora, 9900t, 12x6”, 32 knots
2 CL Slava, 8000t, 9x6”, 30 knots (again their design speed was 31 knots)
2 CL Komsomolets, 7900t, 8x6”, 31 knots
2 CL Almaz, 4800t, 6x6”, 29 knots
1 CV ?
1 CVL Kazan, 15000t, 34 aircraft, 29 knots (designed for 30 knots)
15 DD 2000t
16 DD 1500t

2. The Submarine Force
We intend to double the number of submarines. Some of us have our misgivings about the effectiveness of submarines against a well-equipped modern navy. But in the end Naval High Command has decided that they may be useful, particularly because submarines are becoming better and better too.

3. TP and minesweeping
We will keep and modernise our fleet of 1920 Redkiy, Gordy and Stroynyy destroyer classes (18 ships in total) but we will discard all older ships. That means we will need to build another 15 to 20 ships to act in trade protection and fast minesweepers.


So once we can afford it, we need to design and build
1 CV
5 x 2000t Fleet Destroyers
15 to 20 destroyer escorts and fast minesweepers
30 submarines

Aviation will need also a review and new types should be developed and built to take advantage of the latest technological advances on aerodynamics, structures, engines, weapons etc.

Plus several units will need a modernization to carry on as effective units in the 1930s.

[TheOtherPoster]

The NKVD has accused another officer of counter-revolutionary activities. Their constant interference is affecting both moral and efficiency.

In March Naval Design Bureau successfully developed motor landing craft, improving our invasion capabilities.
And in April new docks were completed: we can now build ships up to 44,500t
In May our engineers developed sound location device for submarines. That will help with our plans to increase the submarine fleet with more capable units.



Also in May Kapitan Zhirzhinsky (he’s commanding CL Krashnyy Krym) presented a new training program for our consideration. I had a look at it and I think it’s very good. He has ample experience in overseeing the training program on board his ship and his suggestions are all very sensible and well adapted to address the special characteristics and shortcomings of our crews.

[TheOtherPoster]

New CV

In July our preliminary design for a new aircraft carrier was ready.
There’s been some calls to give her only AA guns but high command wasn’t totally sure. We do not have enough experience yet on big carriers operations. So 8x6” guns have been included in the design. If we find they are not really necessary we can always remove them in the future (that should free more space and allow us to carry more aircraft).



Named Moskva, she will be one of the biggest carriers in any navy.

Another four months will be necessary to finish the detailed design work before we start construction in October.

[TheOtherPoster]

August 1930

With international tensions low, in July the Supreme Soviet has reduced funds to the Navy.

France and Britain have renewed their military alliance. It seems they are still suspicious of our real intentions.

And a popular revolt in the Far East

This would be a good opportunity to get better harbour facilities in warmer waters and closer to enemy possessions. Our improved invasion capabilities could be handy there.

No luck. We are partly to blame: we only keep a few light units in the area, so we couldn’t really force the situation on our favour. I have issued orders to get 1st Battle Squadron ready for transfer to Vladivostok. If tensions rise in Europe, we will recall them back to our bases in the Baltic.
Ponyryov suggested that in order to have strong forces at hand when a crisis happens, we should also reinforce our Northern Squadron in the Atlantic. Unfortunately basing capacities in the harsh north are very limited. When finished, we will base there the two new Almaz-class light cruisers and some minor units. The big prize is of course Norway. That would give us much better naval bases in the Atlantic, allowing us to operate our Battlefleet from there, instead of having to send them back to our bases the Baltic all the time. Norway in our hands would radically improve how efficiently we will be able to carry out operations in the Atlantic. But so far no opportunity has arisen. We have secret agents from the OGPU operating in Norway trying to destabilise that country and give us an excuse to intervene. But so far, nothing.
Ideally we should detach some units to the Mediterranean too. It would be great if we can get some bases there in case we end up fighting a war against Italy. But as we have no bases at all in the Med, we can deploy only light forces for small periods of time.
Another alternative to get bases in the Med would be a war against Spain and then take the Balearic Islands from them. But Spain, weak as she is, is doing everything they can to avoid raising tensions with us (or anybody for that matter).

[TheOtherPoster]

November 1930: a Disarmament Conference in Geneva / New building

We have recommended not to attend: at the moment we have two big battlecruisers building that we could be forced to scrap. The same number of ships as France. Japan would only need to dispose of one ship and Italy and Germany none! Only the US (4 ships) and the UK (3) would need to scrap more ships. So it wouldn’t be to our advantage.

Now in November, with the danger of disarmament fading away and the detailed plans for the CV Moskva finished, we’ve ordered to start her construction at the Ordzhonikidze Yard in Leningrad. We’ve also ordered a second 9900t CL Avrora-class from the new Amur Shipbuilding Plant in Komsomolsk.

[TheOtherPoster]

An alliance expires, still speed problems with our ships.

December 1930: The Pact of Steel, the alliance between Germany and Italy, has expired and they have not renewed it. That’s good. At the moment only France and Britain remain allies.

Our first cruiser for the Northern Squadron in the harsh Arctic, CL Almaz, has been handed by the Yard and AGAIN, she cannot reach her designed speed. Our lack of skilled steel workers is becoming endemic. We try to improve their abilities as much as we can but many of them have been “relocated” to the big factories building tanks for the Red Army.

[TheOtherPoster]

1931

Events:

I thought these kind of things would only happen in the decadent western nations: we have seen our budget slashed twice in two consecutive months: first in January and then again I February!

In March the economic policies seem, for once, to start working: boom times. After the serious reduction on our budget the previous months, I suggested to use the money to strength the Red Fleet.

And also that month we were given the go ahead by the Presidium to build airbases for up to 60 aircraft. Unfortunately, after our budgetary problems, we cannot spend any money expanding the bases. They will have to wait.

In April we got an opportunity to increase international tensions (we need to do so to preserve our budget from further cuts): One of our cruisers run aground in Greek waters while performing a cover operation. We’ve used it as an excuse to loudly voice our complaint and we’ve sent our 2 BC Voroshilov plus some cruisers and destroyers there.
In April we caught a spy from France and made it public also to raise tensions.

And once more the People’s Congress decided to slash our budget! I told them if they do it again I will resign. We need more funds!