Canceling Stalingrad is criticized on the grounds that a nearly completed battlecruiser could have supplied decades of naval presence. Entry into service in 1953 or 1954 is considered as a counterfactual that would have forced Britain and the United States to decide how to respond. The case for retaining the ship depends on its usefulness after Stalin, even if rejecting his priorities supplied a political reason to cancel it. Visual comparisons associate the large Soviet designs with German ships and the Italian Littorio class. Soviet design history therefore includes sustained study of foreign vessels and efforts to obtain their technical information.
Chapter · 1:39:09-1:41:24
Stalingrad battlecruisers and the argument for postwar naval presence
The case for completing Stalingrad links an unbuilt battlecruiser to postwar presence missions and Soviet study of German and Italian designs.