Krasnaya Zvezda

The *Krasnaya Zvezda* was a Battlecruiser of the Soviet Navy, and the most decorated Soviet Vessel of WW2. The first ground up Soviet produced capital ship, she was the result of a long term secret treaty with Germany.

However, shortly after Hitler's rise to power in 1933, German help on the Zvezda disappeared, and the Soviet's were forced to eventually turn to France and Italy to finish her battlecruiser.

While the French provided the machinery, and AA guns, the Italians designed the beautiful sweeping lines of the Zvezda.

Essentially an Italian Hull with German guns and French Machinery, built by soviet dockhands under the tutelage of Italian Master shipbuilders, the Zvezda was certainly a well 'blended' design.

Shortly after Stalin's rise in power in 1922, the Soviet Military began a relatively large naval expansion. Signing a secret treaty with the new Weimar Republic, the Soviets were given access to German Naval Plans.

## Background and Design

Prior to the end of WW1, Krupp works had began production for turrets for what would become the Württemberg of the Bayern-class battleships, when the Armistice halted the production of this warship. Before the Armistice Commission came around to inspect the works, Krupp had secretly buried 4 completed twin 15" gun turrets that had been destined for the *Württemberg*, (aswell as the 4 twin 16.5in guns that were destined for the Graf Spee)

However, the hard economic depression after the Armistice, the scrapping of the Württemberg, and Soviet inquiries led Krupp to reveal the turrets' existence to the Weimar Republic's leaders, and for the Soviets to set up a construction/training deal. This deal would allow Luftwaffe pilots to train at secret Soviet bases, while German ship building experts were contracted by the Soviet Navy to begin rebuilding her admittedly pathetic post-war fleet.

Much like the Vanguard-class would do decades later, the *Krasnaya Zvezda* put WWI guns on a modern-ish hull. The result would greatly mirror the Côte d'Azur-class, and Michelangelo Buonarroti-class battlecruisers, while being of similar size to the Lexington-class, Graf Spee, and HMS Hood. The Zvezda would be the lightest of these, weighing in at 'only' 40000 tonnes.

Due to limitations in Soviet armor industry to produce cemented armor plates thicker than 9.1in, her armor scheme was dramatically thinner than her contemporaries, with her main belt being thicker then only the *Lexington*-class.

The thickest part of her armor would in fact be the turret faces, which were in reality, German Plates.

With a final 35,000 tonne German Design being selected in 1931, based heavily off the much older Mackensen-class battlecruiser, work finally began in 1932 with the Zvezda being laid down at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad on April 11, 1932.

The Soviet Union would receive the 4 turrets later later in August of the same year. However, when Hitler came to power shortly after in January 1933, Hitler was infuriated upon learning about the secret construction deal. Not only was "Aryan" armament should be riding on a "Filthy Red" vessel, but his own panzerschiffs had to make do with a weaker armament.

With the German support being suddenly cut from under the project, Soviet Admiralty scrambled to find willing Forgein assistance in completing the Zvezda. As by this time the Soviet-French fighter program (the DS.701) had moved onto final design phase, the French were an obvious choice. While unwilling to finish the hull, they were willing to supply the propulsion and main armament machinery.

After this, Italy approached the Soviet's willing to lend support in return for raw materials (which would eventually be used in constructing the Centurio-class battleships).

## French Machinery:

While the Zvezda was smaller than her contemporary battlecruisers, she would have the highest power output of her contemporaries, with her machinery producing 202,000SHP. Using 10 boilers, with 4 turboelectric gearboxes. This gave the Zvezda a class leading 35kn top speed.

While a "Soviet" Design, in reality the entire machinery space was in reality French in origin. The 8 boilers were essentially larger Indret boilers, 15% larger than the ones found on the Dunkerque-class, and the Turboelectric gearboxes were directly based off those found on the French Ocean Liner *Normandie*.

This design of boiler would also eventually be used on the French battlecruiser Côte d'Azur-class, however only 6 would be installed on the *Azur*.

With the only German machinery on the guns themselves being the gun elevation trainer and barrel stabilization equipment, the French were forced to design a ground up barbette design. Using modern loading techniques, the 15in Guns were able to reload in a time comparable to other battlecruisers.

## Italian Hull

With a 10% finished hull, and French reluctance to finish a ship they had no plans for, the Italians graciously offered assistance in 1934 in exchange for raw materials (which would later be used in constructing the Centurio-class).

Using their own Michelangelo Buonarroti-class as a basis for the *Krasnaya Zvezda*, the Zvezda was going to undoubtedly be beautiful. While some blueprints of the original german design were left, the Italians made due with completely redesigning the hull, from essentially the keel up (minus some side panels that had been installed).

While the initial German design called for a flat deck, the Italian's added a long sweeping Atlantic bow to vastly improve her seakeeping in the Atlantic. Additionally, the entire bow also received armor that was unusually thick compared to the bows of other vessels, with a thickness of 6.5in, as well as having the internal layout being very compartmentalized, as the Soviet requirement to operate the ship in the Arctic was not accounted for by the original design. Overall, this allowed the Zvezda to operate independently in the Arctic without the need for an icebreaker.

While the german design had a split superstructure, with a catapult in between (much like that on the Bismarck-class and other German designs), the Italians moved the catapult to the rear of the ship, and condensed the armament away from the stern. This allowed for the belt to be condensed and overall widened to allow for a greater area of side protection.

The original design's 4 dual 150mm/55 SK C/28 turrets were replaced with dual 152mm/55 Italian M1923 Naval guns, and 4 more dual turrets of dual-purpose 90/53 guns were fitted as well.

The final engine exhaust funnels and overall bridge design was extremely similar to that of the Michelangelo Buonarroti-class, which led to an overall ship VERY close in silhouette to the Italian battlecruiser.

A interesting addition to the Zvezda would also be the inclusion of the 'vaunted' *Pugliese underwater protection system*, that was very much a trait of Italian warships. However, while the 'original' system was rated for 350 kg torpedo warheads, the system for the Zvezda was much smaller and would be rated for only 200 kg warheads.

## Interwar Period

Upon her final commissioning in November 1937, the *Krasnaya Zvezda* had a crew hand-picked by the Soviet Fleet Admiral himself for their Communist Loyalty, and approved by Stalin himself. The *Krasnaya Zvezda* would be the only Soviet Capital Ship allowed to sail beyond the Baltic and Black Seas.

After a long stint in the black sea for sea trials, the Zvezda was deployed to the Mediterranean to support the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War, providing land bombardment.

The Soviet Union's overall support for the Loyalist's was essentially to spite Hitler withdrawing out of the earlier treaty. Zvezda shelled Fascist positions far inland but never effectively influenced a land battle. While the German pocket battleship Lützow attempted to interfere with the Zvezda, she was under strict orders to not fire on the Zvezda to avoid a war with the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Aggression during the Spanish Civil War would eventually subsequently led to Hitler offering Stalin the eastern half of Poland and the unfinished Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser *Elbing* in mid-1939 as an "apology" for the much earlier debacle, even though by then Hitler had already began work on planning Operation *Barbarossa*.

After the fascist victory in Spain, the Zvezda received a minor refit in Leningrad, becoming attached to the Baltic squadron under the flagship of the battleship *Svoboda*.

## WW2 Service

On November 29th 1939, nearly 3 months after the Nazi invasion of Poland, the Soviet Fleet on port call at Leningrad departed, setting sail north west.

The Soviet Battleships *Svoboda*, *Marat*, Battlecruisers *Navarin*, *Krasnaya Zvezda*, along with the cruisers *Kirov, Chervona Ukraina* departed St Petersburg and arrived shortly after off the coast of Helsinki at 3:00am

Arriving off Finland's capital of Helsinki, the Soviet warships began opening fire on Helsinki as Soviet Troops crossed the Finnish border formally invading Finland.

In early 1942, the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau along with air support from the Graf Zeppelin would shell Arkhangelsk, and would heavily damage the Krasnaya Zvezda.

Returning to service in mid 1943, the Zvezda would mostly patrol the baltic, and provide Convoy support past the British Isles.

Would sink the Lützow 1944

### 1944 Refit

In desperate need for a refit, the Krasnaya Zvezda was put into drydock at Sevastopol in August 1944 to undergo a very large refit. Her French power units were heavily refurbished, as well as her turret mechanisms. In particular, her turret mechanisms were revised with bulkier cradles.

The original 45 caliber 15in guns were removed and replaced with larger 48 caliber guns, which were 8ft longer then the original guns. The 152mm Italian secondaries were removed and replaced with a Soviet designed version also seen on the Kronshtadt-class battlecruiser.

The 2 biggest visual changes to the Zvezda was the addition of 6 quadruple 45mm SM-20-ZIF AA Mounts, as well as 10 quadruple 25mm 4M-120 AA mounts. The other massive change came in the form of a completely redesigned superstructure. Stalin personally advised of replacing the Italian superstructure to give the Zvezda a distinct Soviet silhouette.

With her refit completed, she was relaunched in January 1946.

### 1946-1950:

damages Seydlitz in 1946.

Battle of Norweigan Sea, April 9, 1947.

Sinks the Hutton-class Berlichingen, battlecruiser Clausewitz and damage the carrier Peter Straßer and pocket battleship Pommern. Soviet Fleet is made up of longside the battleship Sovetskaya Belorussiya, battlecruisers Krasnaya Zvezda, Moskva, and carrierNovorossiysk

## Post War

Survives war, mothballed 1954, scrapped 1961.