Sources needed on postwar Russian naval projects

uk 75

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The US Navy and Royal Navy postwar secret and cancelled projects
have been covered by Norman Friedman and others in great detail.
Is there a similar authority on Russian secret and cancelled naval
projects?

UK 75
 
If you don't mind the russian, there are some options.

There are three books by A. N. Sokolov in russian. The first is on missile cruisers, both actual, and proposed, the second is on destroyers, both actual and proposed and the latest is specifically on never were's and alternative versions of ships actually built and/or proposed. These are not as in depth as Friedman's work and the quality of the drawings leaves something to be desired in a few cases but there is more than enough detail to get one interested and make the books worth getting.

The titles are:

Sovietskii Racketnyii Kreiser: Zigzagi Evolyutsii (Soviet Rocket Cruisers: Zigzag Evolution), Moskva, 2006

Raskhodnyii Material Flota: Minonostsyi SSSR i Rossii (XXXXX Matrerial of the Fleet: Destroyers of the USSR and Russia, I always have trouble with that first word! :mad: ), Moskva, 2007

Alternativa: Nepostroennyie Korabli Rossiisky Imperatorsky i Sovietsky Flota (Alternatives: Unbuilt Ships of the Russian Imperial and Soviet Fleets), Moskva, 2008

These first three shouldn't be hard to find. I got mine through Russia-on-line, which is based in Maryland.

Taifun Magazine also published a special on "Super Destroyers of the Soviet Navy" which deals mostly with traditional gun-torpedo destroyers and leaders that were never completed, ending with the completion and commissioning of Project 41, the Neustrashimmy (this is the 1950 one, not the current frigate). There is some good discussion of the political and technical issues and good drawings of some of the projects. I found it a good read. This is available on-line at the wunderwaffe site (Russian Language).

There are some others. I'll see what other options I can give you.

Hope this helps.

B)
 
Here is an English one that you may be already aware of;

McLaughlin, Stephen, Russian and Soviet Battleships, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2003

Based on Russian language materials, It does cover post-WWII BB construction in the Stalin era.

Stephen has also authored articles published in Warship on Project 69 and 82 that will be of interest to you.

If you want the definitive story in russian for battleship construction during the Stalin era try this one:

Vasiliyev, A. M., Lineinyie Korabli Tipa Sovietskii Soyuz (Line Ships of the Sovietski Soyuz Class), Galeya Print, St. Petersburg, 2006

This is THE book on Project 23, 24 and everything related to them. Lots of detail, lots of drawings and all very good. A little difficult to come by.

Arsenal Kollecktsya also has a book on Project 23, 24, 69 and 82 called "Stalins Giants (english translation. The book is in russian)" ( I think). I haven't read it yet but I have read other books in the series and they are worth getting if you can find the right place with the right price. I deal with Russia-on-line and their pricing is usually quite reasonable. This book has just been published and is readily available.

More to follow as I go through my reading list.

B)
 
Here are some possible sources on the Project 68 and their related never-were offspring. Again, they are in russian:

Morin, A.B., Legkie Kreisera Tipa “Chapaev” I Tipa “Sverdlov”(Light Cruisers of the Chapaev Class and Sverdlov Class), Saint, Petersburg, 1997

This is an excellent book. The author also did a feature length article on this class in Morskaya Kollecktsya which is avaialbe online on the Wunderwaffe site in russian. They have much material in common but the above book has material not seen in the article.

Platonov, A. V., Kreiser Sovietsky Flota, (Cruisers of the Soviet Fleet), Galeya Print, Saint Petersburg, 1999

Has some never were material for post-war cruisers. The book isn't an all-time great but it's not bad.

Arsenal Kollecktsya also has a book on Project 68 with a title that translates as "Cold War Cruisers". I haven't read it yet but as I commented above it is probably worth getting.

Mashenskii, S. N., Korabli Sovietskogo Flota: Velikolepnaya Semerka: Kryliya Berkutov – Korabli Proekta 1134B I Vertolety KA-25 (Ships of the Soviet Fleet: The Magnificent Seven: Wings of the Eagles -The Ships of Project 1134B and the KA-25 Helicopter), Moskva, 2007

This is an excellent book. A little pricy (I paid about 100 USD for mine from Russia-on-line) but worth every penny. It has a section devoted to unbuilt variants of the Kara class which include some of the preliminary designs leading to Project 1164 (The Slava class missile cruisers).

BTW, The full title, in english, of the Taifun Special mentioned in a previous post is:

Litinsky, D. Yu., Super Destroyers of the Soviet Fleet: A Special Presentation of the Almanac "Taifun", Saint Petersburg, 1998

I'll see if I can come up with some more possibilities for tomorrow.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

B)
 
I am very grateful for these excellent sources. I have a friend in Berlin
called Jens who runs a bookshop, which also sells diecast model waterline ships.
There is also a bookshop nearby in a shop called Berliner Zinnfiguren. I am visiting
Berlin in September to see friends and the largest number of Polar bears in one
city in Europe (seven including Knut the celebrity cub). They get some stuff from
Russia, so they may be able to help. Otherwise I now have mastered paypal so
I could order from the States.

I recall a website a few years ago that had excellent coverage of the Russian
carrier programme with drawings and stuff.

As my handle suggests I am into the 1960s projects and earlier that might have
shaped the navies of the 70s when I was at College doing history.
 
Warships of the USSR and Russia 1945-1995 by A.S. Pavlov and Norman Friedman is a good source for a lot of older projects and vessels. There is a lot to be found in Bastion's S-300 SUrface to Air Missile System volume on unbuilt air defense vessels as well.
 
SOC,

could you please post a link for that Bastion book. I'd love to take a look and I haven't succed "googling" for it.

Thanks in advance
 
no links to e-books here please
 
Gregory,

I meant the link to the editor's web, I supose it exists but I don't know how to find it. "Bastion Books" and similars doesn't work woth Google... :-[
 
I was just over in Moscow last week for MAKS-09 and had a chance to hit the bookstores. The Voennaya Kniga had a new series of magazine-format soft-covers on Soviet ship design. I'm not too interested in ship design except for the missile aspects, but I bought the one titled "Alternativa" (Alternatives) which is sub-titled "Unbuilt ships of the Russian and Soviet fleets" by A. N. Sokolov. It's 56 pages and has one or two projects per page with a lot of odd-ball stuff. I had seen many of the projects in other books mentioned here, but it had some new ones (at least to me). Cost was R220 (About $8) and the publishers website is: www.voenkniga.ru. Another one in the series was on aircraft carriers. I didn't get that one.
 

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