ABSTRACT
The build-up of the Russian Navy in the post-war years is now an historical event with a beginning and an end. The cruiser Sverdlov and the aircraft carrier designed under the code-name ‘Eagle’ (Orel) entered service at an interval of nearly 40 years and are symbols of post-war Russia’s naval programme and ambitions. The handsome 17,970-ton Sverdlov, completed in May 1952, took part in the 1953 British coronation review at Spithead. She seemed to mark, with her 13 completed sister ships of the Project 68 bis class, the naval coming of age of the Russian superpower. The first carrier of the 67,500-ton ‘Eagle’ design, also known as Pr. 1143.5, was laid down in 1982 as Riga (now Kuznetsov). Meanwhile, in the building yard at Nikolaev, ‘leaked’ US satellite photographs and artists’ reconstructions made her a centrepiece of the Reagan administration’s campaign against the expansion of Soviet military power. As with the navies of other countries, the Russian experience is often identified with one particular individual. The Tirpitz or Fisher of post-war Russia was Admiral S. G. Gorshkov, who was commander-in-chief for a remarkable period of nearly 30 years, from 1955 to 1985. The basic questions asked here are why the Russians embarked on an ambitious naval programme in the ‘Gorshkov era’, and what factors shaped that programme. Although much has been written about the Soviet Navy’s development, the present chapter has the advantage both of hindsight, and of new information, mainly about ships and weapons systems,1 but also about aspects of naval policy.2
