ADM papers in the United Kingdom's National Archives preserve intelligence-collected Soviet reports on German surface raiders. The reports found that hunting a dangerous ship consumed forces out of proportion to the raider's own combat record, even when the raider did little direct damage or was eventually sunk. A Kirov carrying twenty P-700 missiles, each with a large conventional or nuclear warhead option, could not safely be ignored on the open ocean. NATO might therefore have to assign an attack submarine, a strong task group, or substantial land-based aviation to find and destroy it. The historical study gave Soviet planners an operational model for imposing costs through the threat of a surface raider.
Chapter · 9:26-12:31
What Soviet study of German surface raiders revealed
British archival material on Soviet analysis of German raiders explains why NATO would have to track a roaming Kirov even before it attacked a convoy.