WI: Poison Pill for Soviet Navy - Battleship reparations

Not quite as good as the hippos in the Mighty Mississippi thread, but pretty damn funny. Specially liked Father Maryland's ref to the "savage and unrefined British variant" of English...good stuff!
 
No. The Soviets realize what the Allied intention is from the outset. They pretend to "fall" for it, knowing full well that they'll use the West's attempt at manipulating them to actually boost their naval capabilities by recycling the poison pill ships into raw materials for subs, etc.

Disagree. Stalin was trying to get more ships. If more were given to him, he might just interpret that as his bellowing being successful, and try it to get other things. Alternately, the West could give him the ships for some other "concessions". As mentioned earlier in the thread, Stalin *loved* things with big guns.
 
The plan seems diabolical. Stalin is likely to accept at least some ships, but will also look to get those that are in decent condition, since his big ship mania collides with mistrust of the Western powers. Having several battleships might influence Soviet naval development later on.
 
The plan seems diabolical. Stalin is likely to accept at least some ships, but will also look to get those that are in decent condition, since his big ship mania collides with mistrust of the Western powers. Having several battleships might influence Soviet naval development later on.

Historically Giulio Cesare wasn't in that great condition but Stalin still wanted it. CB Väinämöinen had not had a refit and was an odd one out, but Stalin still wanted it and actually accepted it as a payment. So Stalin is likely to accept any battleships he can get.
 
Historically Giulio Cesare wasn't in that great condition but Stalin still wanted it. CB Väinämöinen had not had a refit and was an odd one out, but Stalin still wanted it and actually accepted it as a payment. So Stalin is likely to accept any battleships he can get.

I think that if the USSR got all those old battleships, the Soviets wouldn't spend so much effort on Giulio Cesare. She was the most powerful of the Axis ships that the USSR got. If the modern Italian battleships are given to the USSR, then Cesare is much less attractive.
 
I think that if the USSR got all those old battleships, the Soviets wouldn't spend so much effort on Giulio Cesare. She was the most powerful of the Axis ships that the USSR got. If the modern Italian battleships are given to the USSR, then Cesare is much less attractive.

No, having the ability to have battleships in all of the fleets will be too attractive.
 
Couldn't the Aquila be used as a sort of helicopter carrier?

Also, I imagine one possible use for some of the BB's would be gunboat diplomacy...
 
No, having the ability to have battleships in all of the fleets will be too attractive.
Not too attractive, I'm afraid. Pre-war shipbuilding programs were not carried out and post-war naval build up achieved nothing in terms of battleships/battlecruisers.
I'm also very skeptical about Soviet government's willingness to spend monies on refits for various battleships. Julio Cesare was somewhat lucky in Black Sea Fleet, but Royal Sovereign was deprived of basic repairs let alone refits to the point of not being able to move main battery turrets.
 
Not too attractive, I'm afraid. Pre-war shipbuilding programs were not carried out and post-war naval build up achieved nothing in terms of battleships/battlecruisers.
I'm also very skeptical about Soviet government's willingness to spend monies on refits for various battleships. Julio Cesare was somewhat lucky in Black Sea Fleet, but Royal Sovereign was deprived of basic repairs let alone refits to the point of not being able to move main battery turrets.

Royal Sovereign was to be returned, thus it was not taken care of. Particularly if Littorio / Italia and Vittorio Veneto might be delivered they might be kept up for a long time.

Stalin's battlecruisers would have been completed if just enough time had been available. After all, construction of Stalingrad-class was begun in 1951!

By the way, a fight between Alaskas and Stalingrads, talk about white elephant meeting a pink one!
 
Stalin's battlecruisers would have been completed if just enough time had been available. After all, construction of Stalingrad-class was begun in 1951!
Would have, should have... I find that one doubtful as well. By the time Stalingrad was cancelled, it was not even halfway done. In all probability, Stalingrad would end up like Kronstadt - delays here, distractions there, more delays, difficulties in production, you name it.
And no ships, of course - this seems to be a recurring theme.
 
Would have, should have... I find that one doubtful as well. By the time Stalingrad was cancelled, it was not even halfway done. In all probability, Stalingrad would end up like Kronstadt - delays here, distractions there, more delays, difficulties in production, you name it.
And no ships, of course - this seems to be a recurring theme.
Mind you the Stalingrads were the perfect ships to convert to missile ships assuming the Soviets were willing to cough up the cash and resources to complete them as such
 
Would have, should have... I find that one doubtful as well. By the time Stalingrad was cancelled, it was not even halfway done. In all probability, Stalingrad would end up like Kronstadt - delays here, distractions there, more delays, difficulties in production, you name it.
And no ships, of course - this seems to be a recurring theme.

Stalin's battleship projects had the slight delay of Operation Barbarossa and the general backwardness of Soviet industry. But the direction of movement was clear. And what's better than wasting money on battlecruiser? Naturally wasting money on battlecruiser which is not even completed!
 
The irony of selling them the Alaskas is wonderful - here guys, since you sold us this wonderful piece of territory for a cut right price, we will return the favor by gifting you a whole class of brand new warships named after America's soon to be 49th state.
 
Would have, should have... I find that one doubtful as well. By the time Stalingrad was cancelled, it was not even halfway done. In all probability, Stalingrad would end up like Kronstadt - delays here, distractions there, more delays, difficulties in production, you name it.
And no ships, of course - this seems to be a recurring theme.
I think the point was more that Stalin had such a throbber for boats with big guns that after WW2 while everyone else was running down their big ships he signed off on not just 30 new design cruisers and refitting their battleship several times a year, but also developing a new design 30cm gun with new design turrets to go on his new design battlecruisers, all while repeatedly overruling his entire naval staff who kept telling him all this was a waste of resources needed to rebuild the Rodina.

Clearly, the man loved boats with big guns the way Churchill loved convoluted naval adventures in restricted waters and it’s not unreasonable to assume that if stalin were offered a heap of well-used battlewagons for free he would go for them as a chance to start building up his navy. However I can also imagine him falling out of love with them pretty damn quick once he’d had his dream battle-line for a little while and experienced the reality.
 
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