Russian Cruisers of the Tsarist Era

This book is a companion to the same author’s highly regarded Russian and Soviet Battleships, originally published in 2003 and reissued recently. However, it is a far larger undertaking for the obvious reason that there are so many more cruisers than battleships, so coverage is divided into two books, with Russian Cruisers in the Soviet Erato be published a year later. Both volumes follow the same approach as the Battleships book with class-by-class in-depth description of each design, from its inception to the end of service. Their origins and rationale are analysed, the main features discussed, and a considered evaluation of their relative success or failure provided. Apart from the ships actually completed, the book also takes in projects and proposals, notably, in the second volume, the highly ambitious plans of the Stalin era. The ship chapters are backed by more general coverage of Russian cruiser doctrine, political factors affecting procurement, wartime operations (1904–1906, 1914–1921 and 1941–1945), and the lessons drawn from the experience of war and revolution as it impacted cruiser design. This two-part study concludes with a series of appendices devoted to guns, aircraft and catapults, naval electronics, and shipyards and armament plants. Based almost entirely on original Russian sources, both books also benefit from access to photograph collections within Russia, providing the most comprehensive picture of the subject currently available in the West.