Assessing the destroyer that the yard actually built

A sound Soviet destroyer design did not guarantee consistent ships from different yards. Gun statistics alone concealed differences between completed ships. Hard-working crews also had to overcome training difficulties and the loss of institutional knowledge. Some ships were let down by yards that treated central plans as suggestions. A comparison with late nineteenth-century French shipbuilding illustrates this criticism of local departures from approved designs. Capable crews and good designs still depended on the quality of construction.