"This time will be different! It has to be and it will!", Viktor repeated over and over again in his mind, thinking of February's presentation of the Heavy Cruiser design to Stalin, where the General Secretary vented his frustration over the "small thinking" of his Naval Commissar, almost cutting research funding for the Fleet altogether.
Ever since, and under Viktor's advice, Vladimir Orlov had risked everything on this presentation - his career, the future of the Navy, quite possibly his life! The centre-piece of the plan: a ship no-one could call unworthy of the Soviet Union!
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"Have you got all the photos Andreev? Check it again."
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"I'll double check sir, here are the Baltic pictures...
And over here are the ones of the Japanese Fleet operating in the months after their invasion of China...
...including the most detailed ones. I've brought it all sir"
IJN Mutsu
IJN Akagi
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"Alright then. Good job. We might just make this work."
They are called in. Viktor doesn't talk at all, and all the better, he'd be far too terrified by the presence of the Secretary General to make any form of coherent sentence.
He watches as Orlov displays the photos and makes a case for naval defences, but Stalin doesn't seem to impressed with anything except the Japanese carriers, and even that might have just been Viktor misunderstanding something.
Ah, now's the final move, Orlov is explaining the design specs of the battleship. What a crazy machine that is. Those cannons don't even exist in the Soviet Union, and the armour... Neptune's own harpoon couldn't pierce that! Not to even mention the engines of the thing. They could power every factory in Crimea and there would probably still be some energy left.
The Naval Commissar's point was that building one of these ships could serve as a fantastic example of Soviet economical and technological might, a glorious flagship for a fleet of modern Battleships.
Viktor looks at Stalin and freezes. The man's face is impossible to decipher. But he doesn't look glad.
Stalin gets up.
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"FINALY! I was beginning to think my Naval Commissar would never come up with a project worthy of our USSR! Bravo! With this - with this we can have a true Navy, worthy of Socialism! Let's make them!"
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"Ahm... Comrade Secretary... Them?"
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"Of course! Didn't you just show me how dangerous our enemies are becoming? If we are to triumph we need the best. You'll get funding to equip our main Fleets with these, and I'll double your research funding to provide the best possible support for them.
...just one thing...
These carrier things. They look rather impressive. I suspect the Japanese are on to something here, and our reports say the British and the American are investing in them too - yes I keep myself updated on my own - If the three largest navies of the world think they are worth it, perhaps we should look into them too. Put a team working on it."
Orlov and Andreev left the meeting too stunned to say anything...
And so it was that, in September 1937, the Great Soviet Naval Build-up Plan was launched.
The shipyards of Sevastopol, Vladivostok and Leningrad were granted resources for 3 of the new Battleship class each, preparations were made for the building of their support ships, and initial research on carriers started.