Industrial continuity mattered as much as the blueprint. British yards could draw on recent capital-ship experience, and their major King George V-class problems centred on exceptionally complex quadruple turrets rather than hull plating, framing, engines, or riveting. Soviet yards were asked to build much larger ships when few people in authority retained experience from the last Russian battleship programme. Their nearest reference was the much older Gangut class. Project 23 required a leap in scale from an industrial system without comparable depth of practice or support.
Chapter · 43:10-44:48
Shipyard experience matters as much as a battleship blueprint
Experienced British yards could manage the basic hull and machinery work that Soviet yards, rebuilding lost expertise, struggled to support.