Continuous destroyer building links presence to security

Unlike Soviet cruiser programs, which often arrive in uneven batches, destroyer construction keeps moving and provides a continuous path for capability growth. The strategic reason extends beyond a single theater because supported naval forces can move to distant regions and affect both wartime commerce and peacetime economics. Presence lets a state observe decisions, shape local calculations, and deny competitors a free hand. For the Soviet Union, projecting a larger and more capable image also improves homeland security by forcing others to account for Soviet activity abroad. Hull numbers and logistics thus become the foundation for the political effects that Gorshkov wanted the fleet to produce.