58 
or surface ships; as well as the means for delivering nuclear weapons 
to the targets, i.e. bombs or warheads for torpedoes or missiles. The 
progress achieved in research and development of missilery indicated 
that rockets might soon become an important means for the delivery 
of nuclear weapons.*? As was indicated earlier, of further considera- 
tion, was the definite progress achieved in the development of nuclear 
propulsion systems for submarines. 
The crucial decison that changed the course of Soviet naval develop- 
ment was made in the mid-1950’s. Following detailed discussions, 
the Soviets decided on the construction of an oceangoing navy, one 
that would be capable of conducting offensive strategic missions with 
an emphasis on submarines and -naval aviation equipped with nuclear 
weapons. Of course, it must be realized that this decision established 
a concept which gave the green light, for the corresponding develop- 
ment of the Soviet Navy, but it would take years—more than a decade, 
for its final implementation. Neither the Soviet technological-industrial 
base was immediately ready for the concept implementation nor was 
the Soviet military theory, especially its naval art, adjusted to the 
concept. 
DEVELOPMENT OF FORCES 
SUBMARINES 
Soviet naval construction started in the late twenties with sub- 
marines. The year 1936 was particularly productive, because the 
Soviet shipbuilding industry delivered to the navy the largest number 
of submarines. The tempo of submarine construction was such that, 
once in the summer of 1936 the Soviet Navy commissioned a whole 
brigade of submarines (six to eight units).“° The development and 
alleged construction of submarines with closed-cycle engines was 
started prior to World War II.*1 During the decade of the 1930s, 
the Soviet shipbuilding industry delivered 206 submarines to the Soviet 
Navy and 52 more were commissioned during the war.” 
The World War II experience of foreign and Soviet submarine 
operations were carefully studied in the Soviet Union. As a result, 
it became clear that submarines were in need of serious improvement 
in the areas of greater range and submerged speed, submerged depths 
and secrecy.** During the second half of the 1940’s, the Soviet Union 
**The progress with missile development in the mid-1950’s made the Soviet Army so happy that its 
“influential authorities” decided to solve all problems including those associated with naval warfare, 
by missiles tipped with nuclear warheads. See ‘“‘Morskoy Sbornik” No. 2, 1967, p. 11. 
49G. M. Trusov, Podvodnye Lodki v Russkom i Sovetskom Flote (Submarines in the Russian and 
the Soviet Navy, 2nd Edition, revised and enlarged. Shipbuilding industry Publishing House, 1963, p. 
440; See also Captain Ist Rank V. S. Bakov, “‘History of Soviet Submarines,” Morskoy Sbornik No. 
11, 1964, pp. 90-93; and Rear Admiral M. A. Rudnitskiy, “Soviet Submarines,”” Morskoy Sbornik, 
No. 7, 1967, pp. 20-34. 
41G. M. Trusov, p. 338. Except for the source, no confirmation or denial concerning the closed- 
cycle Soviet submarines during pre-World War II period could be found. However, during the first 
postwar years, an intensive test of closed-cycle submarine No. 401 was conducted in the Baltic. This, 
however, could be the result of Soviet knowledge of work by the German designer Walther. 
*#2“Morskoy Sbornik”, No. 9, 1971, p. 29. 
43See for example L.M. Yeremeyev and A. P. Shergin, ‘““The Submarines of the Foreign Fleets in 
World War Il.’’ Operational and Statistical Materials Based on the Experience of World War Il 
(“‘Podvodnyye lodki inostrannykh flotov vo vtoroy mirovoy voyne. Operativno-statisticheskiye materi- 
aly po opytu vtoroy mirovoy voyny”) (Voyenizdat, 1962); I. S. Isakov and L. M. Yeremeyev, 
“Transport Operations of Submarines” (‘‘Transportnaya deyatel’-nost’ podvodnykh lodok’’) 
(Voyenizdat, 1959); S. A. Sherr, ‘“‘Warships of the Sea Depths,” (Korabli morskikh glubin) (3d ed., 
revised and enlarged Voyenizdat, 1964); The lead article of Pravda of July 10, 1942, “Submarine 
Fleet—Pride of the Soviet People” (Podvodniy flot-gordost’ sovetskogo naroda). 
