Nuclear excavation and imagined Soviet fleet-transfer canals

If a nuclear-excavated canal proved feasible in the Plowshare counterfactual, other large engineering schemes might follow. One imagined Soviet project would connect the Baltic and Black seas for major warships, using existing rivers and canals where possible and blasting through the gaps. Another would join the Caspian and Black seas through Azerbaijan and Georgia. A broad canal combined with the mountain range is then considered as a possible defensive barrier along the southern frontier. These proposals extend the scenario into fleet movement and border geography; they are not described as completed Soviet works.