Different theatres demanded different 1930s strategies

The Black Sea could be treated as a defensible enclosed space, though its strategic exits were constrained by the straits. Its generally ice-free ports were attractive, but dominance there did not automatically provide useful power elsewhere. In the Baltic, strategic bombers were intended to suppress enemy naval bases and the infrastructure needed to project power. Torpedo aircraft and dive bombers offered ways to attack ships at sea. Soviet pressure on the Baltic states and the Winter War in Finland changed the regional setting, yet suppressing opposing naval forces still required more strength than the Soviet Union had assembled. Neither regional approach translated easily to the northern or Pacific fleets, where distance and geography demanded greater reach.