Novgorod AU

7. First naval construction program 1923-1928

After the civil war, the new Soviet Sosialistic Republic of Novgorod was emerging as a first socialisitic state into the new post-war world order. The new regime was reshaping its military and defence strategies and the Navy took it share of the new revolutionary policies.

Despite having strong prestige in the govermental circles among the bolsheviks, the RKKF had to justify its existence and importance in the turbulent years of the early 1920's. Several politicans and Red Army officers argued that the large battleship oriented fleet was an expencive relic of the Imperial days which had not been able to prevent the initial German attack nor the foreign interventions during the civil war. They argued that the defence of the Revolution and exporting it via the “World Revolution” was to be achived by the Red army and the armed militia of the working class. Most radical suggestions even called for disbanding the fleet all together.

However the RKKF managed to convince the highest authorities with its importance and argued that the fleet had its role in the “World Revolution” as well. It was impossible to support any uprisings and revolutions in far off countries without the support of the Red Fleet. The navy spokesmen also argued that it was the chaotical situation of the fleet and unvoluntary rundown of its operational strenght in the aftermath of the Revolution that caused it been unable to withstand the foreign interventions.

Altough the RKKF managed to establish its existence as an independent military branch, the initial funding for new shipconstruction was limited. This was mostly due the dire economical situation in the whole country which was still recovering from almoust 7 years of constant war. The funds for the navy barely allowed it to operate with the ships it still had in service but of those, only the most high value units were able to be in fully operational. Of the 14 battleships nominally in service, only 8 (the Tsusima and the Gangut class) were truly operational and even those units were severly understaffed and their real combat capability was questionary.

Inside the navy, there were at least equally heated discussion going on about the role and function of the fleet than there had been against party officials and army officers. The naval cicrles were divided among the old “Mahanian” school of tought wich embrased the Battleships as the most important units in naval warfare and to the “jeune école” or “Young School” which advocated small units and ecspecially submarines and minewarfare to the be priority of the RKKF. The later was later mixed with the “Third school” or “Trotskinets”, after Trotski's engouragment for new radical revolutionary thinking in military affairs that swept the military circles in Novgorod in the latter part of the 20's. In the naval circles, those new radical ideas were fixed around aircrafts in the use of the navy and eventually focused on Aircracft Carriers.

In 1923 a first shipbulding program was launched which focused mainly on completing the ships still in the docks laid down during the Imperial era. Main priority was given to the smaller units, aside the two battleships Petr Veliky and Aleksander Nevsky, now renamed Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya and Tretiy International that were still unfinnised at Leningrad (ex St.Petersburg). Seccondary priority was modenrnisation of the existing fleet units but aside some few changes, no major reconstructions were started during the first program, mainly due lack of funds.
Only few completely new hulls were launched during the first shipbuilding program, those mainly being small units, minesweepers, partol ships and submarines.

Abroad the sudden stop of new battleship construction and new era of reduced naval build up took over in 1922 after the Washington Naval Treaty. Altough Novgorod was not invited to the negotations, it welcomed the restrictions of battleship nubmers, size and powers for its main anticipated rivals Great Britan and Japan. Also the defeat of Germany and the demise of German naval precence in the Baltic ment that there were no immediate need for new construction of larger capital units. The existing core of the Battleships namely the Tsusima class and the Diktatura Proletariata (ex-Navarin) were considered equal against their current opponents.

As Lenin died in 1924 and subjequently the power in the Communist Party moved towards Trotsky's hands, the so called “Third School” begun to gain advantage over the Old shcool inside the naval hieracy. The new order was issued in 1925 to start creating a shipborne naval aviation assets and the Naval Aviation (AV-RKKF) was formed. The plan was to first convert exisiting ships to aircraft carriers to serve as a aviation training ships before building of purpose-build aircraft carriers. It was initially decided to convert the existing hull of the unfinished Battlecruiser Orel as well as the Battlecruiser Novgorod which was laid up for repairs after damage it recieved during the war. However the funds for these two ships to be converted were not availble in 1925 and the RKKF had to seddle for the conversion of the old trainingship Okean, now renamed Komsomolets. The Reconstruction of the ship was modelled after similar conversions in foreign fleets but as there were no knowlidge of actual aircraft carrier production nor operations, the building phase took considerable time. It was not until 1930 when the ship was in commision. Orel and Novgorod conversions were to follow Komsomolets in the seccond shipbuilding program.

Another major issue which had to be adressed was the naval precence in the northern region. Novgorod had huge coastline in the Artic Sea but it was mainly located in the vast underdevelopted, harsh and remote part of the country. However the Kola Peninsula and the Arkhangelsk region was relatively close to Leningrad and posseded several opportunities as well as challenges. During the First world war, Novgorod formed Artic Flotilla to support the flow of supplies from its Allies. This small flotilla was however decimated by the foreign invertion force during the Civil War. The latter also underlined the threat that the area precented if not adequetely defended.
The area did not only hold responsibilities but also opened new opportunities. The ice-free port in Murmansk ment that Novgorod had an open sea port available for its fleet in the western hemisphere as well. Also the lately discovered Northern searoute from Barents Sea to the Pacific Ocean via Bering Straigt ment that there was secure and greatly reduced route from the main part of the country to its far east regions, albeit only open for limited ammount of time in a year.

All these factors contributed to the decision of creating the Northern Fleet in 1924. At first its function was rather nominal as it recieved its first combat units only in 1927 when two cruisers, Kommuna and Volya were transfered there accompanied by 8 destroyers of the 'V' class. Also the two battleships Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya and Tretiy Internatsional were decided to assign to the new fleet instead of the Pacific fleet in which they were orginally planned.
Alongside with the shiptransfers the new fleet required support facilities, ports and shipbuilding and repair yards. One of the biggest industrial efforts of the early days of the Soviet Novgorod was the building of the large shipbuilding complex to Severodvinsk, right next to Arkhangelsk. Another, even larger industrial effort was to come in the form of Baltic-White Sea canal system which was been planned ever since the imperial days. It was a water-way from Leningrad via the river Neva, lake Ladoga, river Svir, lake Onega and new construction canal to the White sea. It allowed transfer of ships from the Baltic fleet into Northern Fleet and back.

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