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:	Before 1943 upgrade: 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 12 × quadruple 37 mm (1.5 in) AA guns After 1943 upgrade: 3 × triple 406 mm (16.0 in) guns 6 × twin 152 mm (6.0 in) guns 6 × twin 100 mm (3.9 in) DP guns 14 × quadruple 37 mm (1.5 in) AA guns 16 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 Malenkov himself - a long time advocate of a strong navy - who apporved 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).