Soviet fleet plans initially called for twenty-one Project 23 battleships, then shifted to fifteen battleships, ten Project 69 battlecruisers, and three older battleships by 1947. Germany's Plan Z promised a similarly dramatic capital-ship expansion before the maritime infrastructure existed to support it. Rebuilding German capacity would have taken years and major investment after the post-First World War settlement, with funds diverted from the army and air force. Soviet ambitions faced the same yard and interservice constraints. Published totals from either dictatorship meant little without credible facilities, funding, and delivery rates.
Notable Point · 24:47-28:09
Why Project 23 and Plan Z outran maritime infrastructure
Both programmes demanded yards and funding that could only come from years of rebuilding and major trade-offs, making headline fleet totals far less credible than the industrial base beneath them.