Soviet naval strategy joined nuclear missions to a long conventional war

The book excerpt rejects a Soviet fleet designed only for a short nuclear exchange and gives sustained conventional war a central place. Surface ships would help submarines break into the open ocean, coordinate aircraft and submarines, support ground operations, and protect amphibious movements, even though they remained vulnerable beyond land-based air cover. Luanda then appears as a forward logistics base from which Soviet forces could monitor vital oil and materials routes around West Africa while supporting deployments between oceans. The reading therefore connects fleet structure to geography, because bases and shore-based air cover determine where surface ships can operate and which sea lanes they can threaten.