Early guided missiles did not automatically erase the Stalingrad problem, especially while NATO lagged in missile development. Even a weapon capable of sinking the cruiser in war would not answer how Western navies should find and visibly offset it during peacetime. The comparison is the 1980s reactivation of Iowa-class battleships as a strategic counterweight to Soviet Kirov-class cruisers. The central distinction is that critics are imagining the war fight, while Stalin was thinking about winning the peace.
Notable Point · 14:39-15:40
Why wartime weapons do not erase peacetime naval presence
Missiles might defeat a Soviet large cruiser in wartime, but Stalin also wanted a ship whose visible presence created political effects before war began.