20th Century Russian/ Soviet Navy Wank

So what changes would be necessary to make the Russian navy more significant by the time it reaches World War 2 .

Now given Russia's geographical position it's never going to be a huge navy as resources were needed for the army and air force

My knowledge of the Soviet navy in w w 2 is patchy but I guess what they really need by ww 2 is minsweeper, escorts , submarines , shore bombardment capability and Anti aircraft capacity.

So the ultimate aim would seem to be to give them ample numbers of all these units of at least ww1 level with a strategic smattering of more modern units.


The navy seemed to have reached its zenith around the early 1900's under Tsar Nicholas 2 and the disastrous Russo- Japanese war seemed to have triggered its decline.

So some kind of POD against the Japanese would seem to be a good start . However the Russian Revolution also seems to have speeded its decline so that will need working round too.
 
You would need the Soviets to improve on their economy and quality control so that they can afford to not only maintain the fleet but expand it without causing a negative impact on the Soviet economy and downgrade the living standards of the average Soviet Citizen that had suffered during the OTL.....

and also avoid the excessive graft and corruption that apparently was part of the Soviet System....
 
Yup I kind of thought the best way to give them a better navy is for them to inherit a better one either from the imperial navy or as post WW 1 spoils . How they maintain it is a bigger challenge .
 
You also have to give them a place to USE said navy.

Major ports are:
Baltic sea - blocked by Germany/Scandinavia. Little use for a navy (as opposed to an overpowered coast guard)

Barents Sea - blocked by sea ice half the year. Little use there for a navy - unless you want to attack Norway...

Black Sea - blocked by the Bosporus, and even then you're only into the Med, and you have to get through either the Suez or Gibraltar to get to blue water ocean. Similar to the Baltic, above.

Pacific - Vladivostok COULD have been a really major port, but that would require that Japan be such a threat that a sizable chunk of the Russian arms budget goes into a navy at the far end of a lousy railway line that's longer than most continents are wide.


So. Really, really difficult. Who are they going to fight, to make it worth building those ships?
 
That's why I feel that the Russian s would have been better off building monitors than Battleships . Leave air power and torpedoes to deal with rival battleships and cruisers , build monitors for shore bombardment.
 
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