The Third Five-Year Plan as a whole-fleet project

The Third Five-Year Plan treated naval power as a system of capital ships, carriers, cruisers, destroyers, patrol vessels, minesweepers, motor torpedo boats, and submarines. The 1938 plan for a 1945 fleet called for 21 battleships, one carrier, eight heavy cruisers, two coastal-defence ships, 21 light cruisers, 132 destroyers, and 289 submarines. Its August 1939 revision for 1947 instead called for fifteen Project 23 battleships, ten Project 69 battlecruisers, and two Project 71 carriers, plus thirty-one cruisers and extensive light forces. Project 71 brought scouting and fleet aviation into a programme often remembered mainly for battleships. The patrol, mine-warfare, and submarine totals point to local defence and sea control as well as prestige. Judging the plan on its own terms requires the knowledge available in 1938 and 1939, when big guns were proven and naval aviation and guided weapons had yet to reach their later maturity.