Gangut Class Battleship
Ship/ Class
Length
Beam
Disp.
Main Arm.
Speed
#
Date
Marat
181.2 m
26.9 m
24,800 t
12x12â€
24
1911
ID: Plastic battleship gaming piece: the Gangut class battleship from the game Axis & Allies Europe 40 & Pacific 40.
The Story of the Gangut class: The Gangut class battleships had been the end result of a tortuous design process involving many foreign firms and much interference from the Russian Duma (Parliament.) The idea was to rebuild the Russian Navy by giving it their first true dreadnoughts, the end result ended up looking an awful lot like the first Italian dreadnought, the Dante Alighieri. Since the firm which had designed the Dante had been one of the participants in that design process, it is only natural to see some Italian influence in this design, much as the later Soviet designs like the Kirov class cruisers and Gnevny destroyers. Nevertheless, the ships were built in Russian yards to Russian requirements and were seen as at least somewhat innovative in design at the time, being only the second such dreadnought design (after the Dante) to mount their guns in triple turrets. Through the disasters of World War I and the Russian Revolution, the Gangut class managed to survive and all were renamed with suitably pro-Revolutionary monikers. Though given some modernization between the wars, they were showing their age by the time of World War II, however. The Soviets had intended to build a whole new fleet of powerful warships, including the Sovietsky Soyuz class battleships, Kronstadt class battlecruisers and even a class of aircraft carriers... but it was not to be. The German invasion of 1941 caught the Soviets off-guard, and their new battleships were never to be completed.
Usage Notes: Use this piece for “Global 1939†and “Invasion of Italy†Variants as a battleship unit. Other Soviet warships of interest may be: Kirov class cruiser & Gnevny class destroyer.
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