Q&A: What if the Soviets recovered Wrangel's fleet?

How useful would Wrangel's fleet have been if the Soviet government had bought it back from France in the early 1920s?

The former Imperator Aleksandr III and some destroyers could have been useful if repaired, especially for later Black Sea operations.

The former Imperator Aleksandr III and several destroyers were the most useful parts of Wrangel's fleet if the Soviets could restore them. Much of the remaining collection offered less value. A working battleship could have supplied heavy firepower in the Black Sea during the Second World War, where substantial naval fighting and logistical support continued. Air power was important but not automatically decisive because Soviet ships could use bases farther back before moving forward. The counterfactual depends on repair and modernization capacity rather than possession of the old hulls alone.