Soyuz-class battleship

Krasnaya Belovya c.1941
Class overview
Builders:	8 Noyabrya Shipyards, Stasnov
Operators:	Stasnovan Revolutionary Navy
Built:	1935-1940
In service:	1940-1960
Planned:	5
Completed:	2
Cancelled:	3
General characteristics
Class and type:	Battleship
Length:	262 metres
Beam:	38 metres
Draft:	10 metres
Installed power:	211,000 shp (150,000 kW)
Propulsion:	3 shafts, Sokolov steam turbines
Speed:	28 knots
Range:	7,680 nmi (14,220 km; 8,840 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement:	~2,700 officers and men
Armament:	3 × triple 406 mm (16.0 in) guns 6 × twin 152 mm (6.0 in) guns 4 × twin 100 mm (3.9 in) DP guns 14 × quadruple 37 mm (1.5 in) AA guns 20 x single 37 mm (1.5 in) AA guns
Armour:	Waterline belt: 180–420 mm (7.1–16.5 in) Deck: 25–155 mm (1.0–6.1 in) Turrets: 230–495 mm (9.1–19.5 in) Barbettes: 425 mm (16.7 in) Bulkheads: 75–365 mm (3.0–14.4 in) Conning tower: 425 mm (16.7 in)
Aircraft carried:	4 KOR-2 flying boats
Aviation facilities:	2 aircraft catapults

The Soyuz-class was a pair of battleships built the Revolutionary Navy of the Stasnovan Union. The Soyuz-class were the largest and most powerful warships built for the Stasnovan Revolutionary Navy in the period, as well as the heaviest class ever buit in Stasnov. Armed with three triple 406 mm gun turrets and able to sail at a speed of 28 knots, the Soyuz battleships were strong contestants for the title of the most powerful vessels in the Zentrum Sea. The two ships served throughout the war, and participated in virtually all major Stasnovan naval operations. The class was named Soyuz (Union) and its planned five ships were supposed to bear the names of the five "Red Republics". However, only Krasnaya Belovya (Red Belovya) and Krasnaya Korskaya (Red Korskaya) were finished before the war started, and construction of the rest of the ships was cancelled. As a result, the two vessels came to be known as "Malenkov's Daughters" or "Malenkov's Twins", as it was Premier Kiril A. Malenkov himself - a long time advocate of a strong navy - who aporved their construction.

Background

The catastrophic loss of the majority of the Imperial Stasnovan Navy during the First Great War and the following Civil War left the newly born Stasnovan Union without a major surface force. Particularly, the battleship force of the young Revolutionary Navy was composed of just three Gangut-class battleships: the Mark Krauss (former Imperator Alexei II), the Anatoly Volkov (former Knyaz Zakharov) and the heavily damaged Respublika (former Imperatritsa Anna Velikaya). Stasnov was a heavily industrialised country even before the Revolution, with a significant shipbuilding industry, however, the civil war reduced both the nation's industry and its funds. As such, it was decided that only the Krauss and Volkov were to be retained, and the Respublika was broken up for scrap, along with the two Imperator-class hulls that had been laid down pre-war and were left unfinished.

The revitalization of the Stasnovan economy during the 20s and 30s brought with it several re-armament plans for the Armed Forces. These plans included battleship building projects for the Revolutionary Navy, most notably Project 20 and Project 21, also known as the Rabotnik-class and the Pobeda-class. The Rabotnik-class were similar to the Ganguts in layout, with a 1-1-1-1 turret arrangement but with improved armour and mounting 365 mm guns. The Pobeda-class was a fast battleship design with a 2-2 layout with 365 mm guns and somewhat thinner armour. The Revolutionary Navy's tactical planning at the time was focused on T-crossing tactics, and the faster Pobeda-class was chosen for production. Two hulls were laid down in 1929, but only one ship was completed by 1934, as her sister ship was cancelled due to lack of funds caused by political maneuvering by the Revolutionary Army. The new ship was state-of-the-art, but still insufficient on its own for line battles against heavier combatants. The SRN needed a more powerful battleship.

Moskvin's retirement in 1935 led to the election of Kiril A. Malenkov, a former People's Commissar of Defence and strong advocate of a strong navy. By Malenkov's order, several design teams were put together to come up with a larger, well armed and armoured design. The results were the forward battery Project 22, the Gangut-styel Project 23 with equally distributed main armament, and the more conventional Project 24, with a 2-2 triple 365 mm turret arrangement. Prject 24 won the competition and preparations for the constructions of 5 ships began. However, information acquired by the KGB revealed that the planned TBD-class battleships of Zerinfrium - the then foremost Stasnovan rival -were to mount 406 mm guns, and as such, necessary redesigns were made. The new class, now known as Project 24M, and later the Soyuz-class, now mounted three triple 406 mm turrets (two front, one rear) and had improved deck armour and torpedo bulges.

Design

General Characteristics

The Soyuz-class battleships are 262 metres (859.5 feet) long overall and 258 metres long at the waterline (846.4), with a beam is 38 metres (124.6). They draft at full load displacement of 66,150 t (65,105 long tons) was 10 metres (32.8 feet), while at combat displacement of 63,720 tonnes (62,713 long tons), the draft was 11.3 metres (37 feet). The ship's layout is rather conventional, with its superstructure consisting of a main, taller "mast" torwards the front that houses most of the command and control equipment, as well the bridge and several searchlight equipped observation posts. The Soyuz-class feature a single funnel, behind which are housed the ship's large motor boats and the retractable crane that lowers them to and retrieves them from the water.