Kuznetsov's postwar reversals and critical memoirs

Stalin removed Kuznetsov in 1947 and subjected him and other admirals to a naval tribunal. Kuznetsov was demoted, while others received prison sentences, before Stalin recalled him to naval command in 1951 without immediately restoring his rank. A later conflict with Zhukov brought another removal and Gorshkov's appointment. Kuznetsov favored smaller ships, submarines, and cruisers more than the capital ships Stalin wanted. His posthumously published writing criticized Communist Party interference in military affairs and argued that the state should operate under law. Those memoirs preserve his criticism while requiring the caution that authors usually remember their own conduct favorably.