Warships of the USSR and Russia, 1945-1995


Book Description

Naval architect Pavlov is an enthusiast rather than a professional and so has access to official documents, but saw a vacuum in the literature and set out fill it. He produced a handbook of current Soviet warships in 1991 and updat it the next year. In 1995 he expanded his guide to cover the entire




Warships of the Soviet Fleets 1939–1945


Book Description

Seventy-five years after the end of the Second World War the details of Soviet ships, their activities and fates remain an enigma to the West. In wartime such information was classified and after a brief period of glasnost (‘openness’) the Russian state has again restricted access to historical archives. Therefore, the value – and originality – of this work is difficult to exaggerate. It sees the first publication of reliable data on both the seagoing fleets and riverine flotillas of the Soviet Navy, listing over 6200 vessels from battleships to river gunboats, and mercantile conversions as well as purpose-built warships. Divided into three volumes, this first covers major surface warships down to MTBs and armored gunboats, as well as submarines. For every class there is a design history analyzing strategic, tactical and technical considerations, and individual ship detail includes construction yard, key building dates, commissioning, fleet designations, relocations and ultimate fate. Once a closely guarded secret, the wartime loss of every ship and boat (over 1000) is described. Furthermore, the confusion caused by frequent name changes is clarified by indexes that run to 16,000 items. By following the ships through both their wartime and earlier history, the book reveals many aspects of Russian history that remain highly sensitive: clandestine co-operation with Weimar Germany and fascist Italy, the NKVD-enforced closure of Soviet borders, the ‘Gulag Fleet’, the faked Metallist sinking that excused the military occupation of Estonia, and the ill-conceived pact with Nazi Germany. Restrictions recently imposed on historical publications in Russia mean this book could certainly not have been published there – as proven by the fact that most of the authors' Russian collaborators preferred not to disclose their identities. This is undoubtedly one of the most important naval reference works of recent years and will be welcomed by anyone with an interest in warships, the Soviet Navy or wider maritime aspects of the Second World War.




Russian and Soviet Battleships


Book Description

Russian and Soviet Battleships is the definitive English language overview of Russian and Soviet battleships, from the ironclad Petr Velikii of 1869 to Stalin's final projects. Meticulously researched, this work describes and illustrates the design histories, technical details, characteristics, and service histories of the forty seagoing battleships that served in the Russian and Soviet Navies. This is the first book about Russian battleships to draw from Russian language materials, including books and articles published since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some one hundred drawings of ships and design studies, many specially commissioned for this book, are showcased, as well as one hundred photographs, many of them never published in the west. The author, Stephen McLaughlin, analyzes all aspects of battleship design, from the policy decisions behind their construction to details of fire control and gunnery. He evaluates their strengths and weaknesses compared with foreign contemporaries. In addition, McLaughlin outlines numerous projected battleships and conjectural studies. As he examines the active--and often tragic--careers of these ships, he reassesses many of the myths and misconceptions associated with Russian ships and the Russian navy.




Russian


Book Description

Russian and Soviet Battleships is the definitive English language overview of Russian and Soviet battleships, from the ironclad Petr Velikii of 1869 to Stalin's final projects. Meticulously researched, this work describes and illustrates the design histories, technical details, characteristics, and service histories of the forty seagoing battleships that served in the Russian and Soviet Navies. This is the first book about Russian battleships to draw from Russian language materials, including books and articles published since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some one hundred drawings of ships and design studies, many specially commissioned for this book, are showcased, as well as one hundred photographs, many of them never published in the west. The author, Stephen McLaughlin, analyzes all aspects of battleship design, from the policy decisions behind their construction to details of fire control and gunnery. He evaluates their strengths and weaknesses compared with foreign contemporaries. In addition, McLaughlin outlines numerous projected battleships and conjectural studies. As he examines the active--and often tragic--careers of these ships, he reassesses many of the myths and misconceptions associated with Russian ships and the Russian navy.




Fighting Ships of World War Two 1937 - 1945. Volume VII. Soviet Union.


Book Description

This book, the seventh in the "Fighting ships of World War Two" series, contains reference information about all fighting ships and boats of the Soviet Navy and Soviet Border Guard, served, built or ordered in days of the Second World War. Articles contain information about designing, building and service of all ships and their technical data and modernization. Texts are accompanied by many photos and side view drawings. The book also contains information about organization of Soviet Navy and Border Guard, Soviet ship-based airplanes and naval weapons.




Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet


Book Description

In this work, two senior naval historians analyze the discussions held in leading Soviet political, military, and naval circles concerning naval strategy and the decisions taken for warship-building programmes. They describe the reconstitution of the fleet under difficult conditions from the end of the Civil War up to the mid-1920s, leading to a change from classical naval strategy to a Jeune ecole model in the first two Five-Year Plans, including efforts to obtain foreign assistance in the design of warships and submarines. Their aim is to explain the reasons for the sudden change in 1935 to begin building a big ocean-going fleet. After a period of co-operation with Germany from 1939-41, the plans came to a halt when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in 1941. Finally, this work covers the reopening of the naval planning processes in 1944 and 1945 and the discussions of the naval leadership with Stalin, the party and government officials about the direction of the new building programmes as the Cold War began.




Soviet Warships


Book Description




Soviet Cruise Missile Submarines of the Cold War


Book Description

The Soviet Union's cruise missile submarines from the modified Whiskey, to the Oscar II classes were among the most formidable vessels of the Cold War. They were initially designed to carry land attack nuclear-tipped cruise missiles designed to strike targets on the eastern coast of the United States. By the late 1960s, however, submarine-launched ballistic missiles made the nuclear land-attack mission unnecessary, so existing classes were converted to the 'carrier killer' role, armed with anti-ship cruise missiles designed to destroy US super-carriers and other important naval targets. This fully illustrated study examines these powerful machines that were some of the largest and fastest submarines ever built. If war had broken out, they would have been at the forefront of the Soviet Navy's campaign to destroy NATO's sea power and cut America's sea link with Europe.




Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet


Book Description

A study of the development of strategic concepts in Stalin's Navy, in the context of his foreign/defence policy, using original archival documents translated from the Russian.




Soviet Cold War Guided Missile Cruisers


Book Description

A fully illustrated study of the Soviet Navy's biggest and most powerful surface combatants of the Cold War. Heavily armed and formidable, guided missile cruisers formed the core of the Soviet Navy during the Cold War. From the last class of conventional Sverdlov-class cruisers through to increasingly complex and formidable missile cruisers, these ships ensured that NATO took the Soviet naval threat seriously. Soviet Cold War Guided Missile Cruisers covers all classes of these impressive warships, from the early Sverdlov through the Kynda, Kresta, Kara and Slava to the enormous Kirov classes. Together, these vessels marked the apogee of Soviet naval technology and capability and they remain today the largest non-aircraft carrier warships built since 1945. Containing material previously only available in Russian and fully researched from specialist defence journals, this comprehensive volume examines the design, development, and intended role of these impressive, hi-tech warships, and recounts their dramatic operational history as NATO and Soviet warships faced off against each other during the long Cold War at sea.