Sovetsky Soyuz class battleship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Sovetsky Soyuz class battleship layout. |
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| Class Overview | |
| Class type: | Battleship |
| Class name: | Sovetsky Soyuz |
| Preceded by: | None (first Soviet battleship class to build) |
| Succeeded by: | None |
| Ships of the line: | Sovetsky Soyuz, Sovetskaya Ukraina, Sovetskaya Rossiya, Sovetskaya Belorussiya (all not completed) |
| General Characteristics (Sovetsky Soyuz as frozen in 1940) |
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| Displacement: | 59,150 tonnes standard 65,150 tonnes full load |
| Length: | 269.4 m |
| Beam: | 38.9 m |
| Draft: | 10.4 m |
| Speed: | 28 knots (51.8 km/h) nominal 29 knots (53.8 km/h) top |
| Complement: | 66 officers, 1226 ratings |
| Range: | 5,580 miles (10,000 km) @ 14 knots (25.9 km/h) |
| Power: | 201,000 hp (150 MW) nominal 231,000 hp (172 MW) top 6 triangle type boilers |
| Drive: | 3 screws; 3*67,000 hp Brown Boveri geared turbines |
| Fuel: | N/A |
| Armor | Belt: 375-420 mm, Bulkheads: 230-365 mm, Barbettes: 425 mm, Turrets: 495 mm, Decks: 100-150 mm |
| Armament: |
Main guns: 3x3*406 mm/50 |
| Aircraft: | 4 Beriev KOR-1 seaplanes; 1 catapult |
| Other equipment: | N/A |
Sovetsky Soyuz class battleships (Project 23, Russian: Советский Союз, Soviet Union), also known as Stalin's Republics, formed a class of battleships, laid down by the Soviet Union in the late 1930s, but never brought into service. Initially there were plans for the completion of up to 15 ships of this class by 1947, and they were to form the main striking force of the Soviet Navy. However, slow design process and looming war with Nazi Germany led to reconsideration of this overly optimistic plan.
In the end only four hulls were laid down by October 1940, when the decision was made to stop the laying down of more ships of the class, as the Soviet Union shifted its resources to building its land forces to prepare for the imminent war. The construction of the ships that were laid down continued, but was suspended when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June, 1941, and did not resume after the end of the war in 1945.
The class consisted of 4 ships:
- Sovetsky Soyuz (Soviet Union)- laid down 15 July 1938 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg)
- Sovetskaya Ukraina (Soviet Ukraine)- laid down 28 November 1938 in Nikolayev (Ukrainian: Mykolaiv),
- Sovetskaya Rossiya (Soviet Russia)- laid down late 1939 in Molotovsk (now Severodvinsk),
- Sovetskaya Belorussiya (Soviet Belorussia)- laid down about the same time also in Molotovsk.
The second ship of the class, laid down in Ukrainian city of Nikolayev, was partially scuttled in the yard before the German capture of the city in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa, so Germans found no use to the hulk. There is some contradiction about fourth ship, Sovetskaya Belorussiya, as some sources state it was never laid down at all, while others postulate that it was, in fact, laid down, but was cancelled in the matter of months with little actual work done.
If completed, these ships would have been only slightly smaller than the Japanese Yamato class battleships, the largest to ever enter service. However, after the war, despite plans to complete them to one of the advanced designs, it was considered too costly for war-ravaged Soviet economy. Moreover, the focus of the naval warfare shifted from battleships to aircraft carriers, so their completion would bring little benefits. Sovetsky Soyuz was eventually launched in 1949, but only to free slip for the new construction. By 1950 all were scrapped in the yards.
Many modern historian and economists heavily criticize the project as being too expensive for fairly weak Soviet economy of the day (it is said that in 1940 about one quarter of all Soviet GDP was devoted to these ships). Now they are seen mostly as a political tools for displaying Soviet power. It is widely known that Stalin favored the Navy and was himself a proponent of big artillery warships, so this undoubtedly heavily influenced Soviet naval doctrine.
[edit] Trivia
Sovetsky Soyuz battleship was featured as completed in alternative history novel "Variant Bis" by Sergey Anisimov. North Atlantic raid by a task force consisted of Sovetsky Soyuz, battlecruiser Kronshtadt and Chapayev escort carrier (also planned but never completed warships) forms one of the main plot arcs in the novel.
[edit] References
- (English) Jürgen Rohwer and Mikhail S. Monakov, Stalin's Ocean Going Fleet - Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programmes: 1935-1953, Frank Cass, 2001, ISBN 0-7146-4895-7.
- (English) Class specifications
- (Russian) article Article from ship.bsu.by
- (Russian) Article from www.battleships.spb.ru
