Project 21 offered a simpler, Nelson-like alternative that the Soviet Union could have started about two years earlier. Even one or two completed ships would have created an operational force before the German invasion instead of leaving only partially built hulls. The proposal does not assume that a small Soviet battle fleet would transform the war, and its effect remains uncertain. It asks whether a less demanding design, chosen earlier, could have produced more real capability than Project 23's ambitious paper specification.
Notable Point · 1:03:20-1:04:08
Could Project 21 have been a more realistic Soviet start?
A simpler Project 21 design begun earlier might have produced one or two usable Soviet battleships before the war.