Finding a reference that covers the entire Soviet naval period is difficult when most books specialize in narrower eras. The volumes on warships of the Soviet fleets in 1939-1945 receive a favorable assessment, but their coverage cannot supply the whole story. Cold War books often begin in the 1960s, leaving the years from 1945 to 1960 less well covered. The interwar literature receives a particularly critical assessment. Two recurring objections concern writers who start from the premise that a land power has no use for a navy and writers who judge every ship solely by its warfighting deficiencies. Those assumptions make it harder to investigate the political purposes and design compromises behind the ships.
Notable Point · 1:15:01-1:17:26
Gaps and assumptions in Soviet naval history books
Separate literatures on World War II and the later Cold War leave awkward gaps for a history of the Soviet Navy across its whole existence.