Stalin's ocean-going fleet : Soviet naval strategy and shipbuilding programmes, 1935-1953 / Jürgen Rohwer and Mikhail S. Monakov.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rohwer, Jürgen.

Contributor:

Monakov, Mikhail S.

Series:

Cass series--naval policy and history 1366-9478 ; 11.

Cass series--naval policy and history, 1366-9478 ; 11

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Soviet Union. Voenno-Morskoĭ Flot--History.

Soviet Union.

Soviet Union. Voenno-Morskoĭ Flot.

Naval strategy.

History.

Soviet Union--Military policy.

Military policy.

Soviet Union--History--1925-1953.

Naval strategy--Soviet Union.

Soviet Union--History, Naval.

Naval history.

Physical Description:

xvi, 334 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; Portland, OR : F. Cass, 2001.

Contents:

2. Historiography on the Soviet Navy 4

3. The Reconstitution Phase, 1920-25 6

Condition of the Soviet Navy after the Civil War 6

Personnel 7

First Plans for a Reconstitution of the Navy 8

The RKKF and International and National Politics 9

Changes in the Personnel Situation 11

Strategic Considerations 12

Manoeuvres 13

The Restoration of Ships 14

4. The Consolidation Phase, 1925-32 19

Stalin on his Way to Dictatorship 19

New Discussions about Strategy 20

The Start of the First Shipbuilding Programme 24

Tanks or Battleships? What Fleet Do We Need? 24

The First Five-Year Plan (1928-32) 27

The 'Small War at Sea' Theory 29

First Repressions of Leaders and Engineers Accused of Sabotage 30

Foreign Aid from Germany 32

Foreign Aid from Italy 34

Shipbuilding in the First Five-Year Plan 35

5. The Second Five-Year Plan, 1933-37 41

International Politics and Strategy 41

Shipbuilding and the Forced Industrialization Programme 42

Strategy and Shipbuilding Plans 43

Foreign Aid during the Second Five-Year Plan 45

Submarine Building in the Second Five-Year Plan 46

Medium Submarines 46

Small Submarines 48

Big Submarines 48

Surface Ships in the Second Five-Year Plan 49

Cruisers 49

Destroyer Leaders and Destroyers 51

Minesweepers 53

Motor Torpedo Boats and Other Small Vessels 53

Reasons for Delays during the Second Five-Year Plan 54

6. The Change to the Big High Seas and Ocean-Going Fleet 58

Stalin's Role 58

International Situation 59

Domestic Policy and the Start of the Purges 60

A New International Naval Arms Race 60

First Soviet Battleship Plans 62

The Spanish Civil War 64

7. The Third Five-Year Plan 69

The Great Purges against the Army and Navy 69

The Strategic Considerations in 1935-36 70

The Pacific Fleet 72

The Baltic Fleet 72

The Black Sea Fleet 73

The Northern Fleet 73

The Battleship Building Plans of 1936-37 74

Changes in Strategic Planning and New Purges 77

New Leaders and a New Strategy in 1939 79

The Pacific Fleet 80

The Baltic Fleet 81

The Black Sea Fleet 83

The Northern Fleet 84

The River Flotillas 85

The Shipbuilding Organization in the Third Five-Year Plan 85

Foreign Aid in Shipbuilding in the Third Five-Year Plan 88

The State of the Soviet Fleets and the Shipbuilding Programme in the Summer of 1939 90

Old Ships and Submarines 90

New Surface Ships 90

Submarines 92

New Battleships and Battlecruisers 94

Aircraft Carriers 97

Light Cruisers 98

Destroyer Leaders and Destroyers 99

Smaller Surface Combatants 100

Operations and Tactics Reconsidered 102

8. The Second World War: The First Two Years 110

Soviet Foreign Policy in Spring and Summer 1939 110

The First Period of Soviet

German Co-operation 1939-40 111

Changes in the Strategic Situation, Autumn 1939

Summer 1940 114

Change from Co-operation to Confrontation, Autumn 1940 116

New Changes in the Soviet Naval Strategy in 1940 117

New Changes in the Shipbuilding Programme 119

Conferences on Operations and Tactics in October and December 1940 121

Hitler and the German Wehrmacht Prepare for 'Barbarossa' 127

The Debate about a Preventive or a Pre-emptive Attack in the Historiography 130

Soviet Preparations for War 131

The Soviet Navy at the Start of the Great Patriotic War 135

9. The Great Patriotic War, 1941-45 144

The German Attack 144

Consequences for the Soviet Navy of the German Attack up to mid-1942 145

Planning and Design Processes during the War: Surface Ships and Vessels 148

Battleships and Battlecruisers 150

Heavy and Light Cruisers 151

Aircraft Carriers 152

Destroyer Leaders and Destroyers 153

Patrol Ships and Minesweepers 154

Small Surface Combatants 156

Building and Planning the Submarines 158

Big Submarines 158

Medium Submarines 159

Small Submarines 160

Special and Midget Submarines 161

Lend-Lease Deliveries of Naval Vessels 162

Lend-Lease Ships for the Northern Fleet 163

Lend-Lease Ships for the Pacific Fleet 165

War Booty Ships up to the End of the War 167

Operations and Losses from mid-1942 to the End of the War 168

Baltic Fleet 168

Black Sea Fleet 168

Northern Fleet 169

Pacific Fleet 170

The Soviet Fleets at the End of the War, September 1945 170

Baltic Fleet 170

Black Sea Fleet 171

Northern Fleet 172

Pacific Fleet 172

10. From 1945 to the End of Stalin's Regime 178

First Plans for the New Navy 178

The Soviet Diplomatic Offensive, 1944-45 179

Ships as Reparation 179

Return of the Lend-Lease Ships 184

The Ten-Year Programme of 1945 (1946-55) 185

Experiences, Strategies and Industrial Capacities 188

Reorganization of the High Command and Purges 190

New Discussions about Strategy 191

Completion of Ships from Pre-war Designs 192

New Surface Ships 193

Battleships 194

Battlecruisers and Heavy Cruisers 195

Light Cruisers 197

Aircraft Carriers 199

Destroyers 201

Patrol Ships 202

Minesweepers 203

Small Combatants 204

Submarines 204

Big Submarines 205

Medium Submarines 205

Small Submarines 206

New Technologies and Changes in the Programme 209

Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons 210

Cruise Missiles and Rockets 210

Politics and Strategy, 1951-56 215

11. Why Did Stalin Build his Big Ocean-Going Fleet? 221

1. Warships and submarines of the former Imperial Navy, serving in the RKKF/VMF 226

2. Warships of the RKKF/VMF, laid down or odered, 1926-45 229

3. Submarines of the RKKF/VMF, laid down or ordered, 1926-45 243

4. Lend-Lease vessels in the VMF, 1941-53 257

5. Soviet warships and submarines lost, 1939-45 260

6. Warships and submarines, taken as war booty into the VMF, 1944-53 268

7. Warships of the VMF, laid down or ordered, 1945-53 276

8. Submarines of the VMF, laid down or ordered, 1945-53 283.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [299]-314) and indexes.

ISBN:

0714648957

071464448X

OCLC:

45963273