The walls are sleek red, the floor is deep green, and a large five-pointed red star is set on the top of the soaring ceiling, showing the solemnity of the red Soviet style. Andrei, the commander-in-chief of the Navy in his forties, walked into the warm spring-like house and soon saw the familiar bearded middle-aged man on the sofa.

"Hello, Comrade Stalin." André hung his coat on a hanger, then took off his heavy leather gloves and shook hands with the man in front of him; Stalin, who was still in power for a short time, was far from establishing his absolute authority, and the meetings between the top brass and leaders of the Bolshevik Party remained simple and simple. Stalin was enthusiastic about Andrei's arrival, smiling and smiling to sit down beside him, and then poured him a steaming cup of coffee.

"Comrade Andrey, you just returned from Leningrad, and you haven't taken care of resting yet, right?" Stalin smiled, his mild expression contrary to the rudeness of the rumors. The man in front of him was none other than his cronies in the Red Navy, and together with Voroshilov in the Army and Molotov in the Politburo, he formed his personal ruling team, and he was at odds with the army veterans and Bolshevik senators. Although the weak Red Navy's position in the country was far inferior to that of the Army and the Politburo due to the devastation and desolation brought about by the war, the Red Navy's special status as the cradle of the October Revolution in the past still exerted a considerable degree of influence on the current Soviet and Russian politics. With the gradual recovery of Soviet and Russian power, the reconstruction of the Red Navy was also put on the agenda; This branch of the military, which was once ranked third in the world during the Tsarist era, obviously should not be buried!

Andrei thanked Stalin for his coffee and said in a relaxed tone: "Now that it is cold in Leningrad to minus 20 degrees, I have come to Moscow just in time to escape the freezing weather." If you have any instructions, I will ensure that I will do it with 100% enthusiasm. ”

The smile on Stalin's face faded and was replaced by a solemn and solemn tone, and he said: "Comrade Andrei, recently there is a book on the German Imperial Navy in the past, which was extremely popular in Germany, and last month it was translated into Russian and published in the Soviets. I wonder if you've paid attention to this? ”

"Comrade Stalin, have you also read that book of the apocalypse of the rise and fall of the High Seas Fleet?" Andrei was taken aback and said with a look of astonishment. Stalin's eyes flashed and he nodded slightly; He got up and walked to his desk, then put a book with a blue cover on the coffee table, exhaled, and said: "This is a precursor to the Soviet ambassador to Germany, Comrade Litvinov, who strongly recommended reading this book to me. For more than a month, I have been studying the ideas expressed in it. Although it was written by the reactionary bourgeoisie of the imperialist countries, I must admit that it opened a door for me in the maritime realm, an open door to a magnificent world that I had never touched before. ”

"The oceans of the planet are shared by all countries with coastlines. The so-called sacred and untouchable sea power is a lie concocted by the imperialist countries that preemptively control this interest, and its fundamental purpose is to prevent later countries from stepping in, so that they can enjoy this huge profit forever. And the development of a strong navy is also an inherent right of any coastal state, and the vast ocean has never said that its surname is Anglo-Saxon! Stalin said slowly, his eyes blooming with a clear and translucent look, "Originally, I was full of hesitation about whether the Soviet Union should build a navy, after all, there was a precedent for German imperialism to collapse and collapse in pursuit of the sea, and the mighty fleet of the old tsar was also defeated by the Japanese; But now, my heart is open-minded, and I don't hesitate any longer. The navy of the Soviet Union must not only be able to resist the armed invasion of the imperialist countries, but also undertake the historical mission of spreading the glorious proletarian revolution throughout the world, and no one has the right or ability to stop us. Why should the Soviet Union follow the imperialist countries' restrictions on naval armaments? What we are determined to do will not be diverted by any external force! ”

Andrei was excited in his heart and said in a trembling voice: "Comrade Stalin, do you want to prepare to rebuild the Navy?" ”

Stalin nodded, and the unchangeable firmness of his words was revealed: "The Red Navy was originally the birthplace of the October Revolution, and in the civil war against the imperialist intervention army and the White Bandit Army, the sailors also made great contributions in the form of infantry through demobilization. A few years ago, the country was busy rebuilding after the war, and for a while it was unable to take care of the fleet, but now that we have recovered a considerable part of our strength, it is time for this force with a glorious history to return to its former glory. Since you have read the book written by the Germans, you probably don't have any objections to the large-scale reconstruction of the navy, right? ”

Andrei showed excitement on his face and said: "Comrade Stalin, I have been waiting for this day for a long time. You are right, the defeat of Germany and the destruction of the old tsarist navy in the war against Japan can only prove the impotence and decay of imperialism, and it cannot be a hindrance to the reconstruction of our navy! ”

"This time, Comrade Andrei, you are called back from Leningrad in order to confirm the current situation of our Navy to you, who have always been on the front line." Stalin paused, and then spoke again, "In addition to this, I would like to know about the Red Navy's plans for the future, and what is the current state of our shipbuilding technical strength." In the old Tsarist era, we were able to build large capital ships with a displacement of more than 30,000 tons, which was not inferior to any Western imperialist power, but our factory equipment and technicians suffered serious losses due to the damage caused by the war, and by the end of the war, even ordinary ship maintenance could not be done. At present, Comrade Kuibyshev, chairman of the Supreme Council of National Economy, has agreed to allocate funds for the reconstruction of the Navy, but the final amount will have to be determined in concrete terms according to the overall situation of the Navy, so I need to have a preliminary understanding first. ”

In the face of Stalin's calm and sharp gaze, Andrei, as his confidant, did not hide it at all, and told the other party all the family resources of the navy: "Due to the sabotage of the White Bandit Army and the Western Intervention Army, now the Soviets have only 3 battleships, 3 cruisers, 20 destroyers, and 10 submarines in the White Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Pacific Ocean, and most of them are behind the times. The 2 cruisers of the Baltic Fleet, including the Aurora, will be decommissioned in the near future. In order to replace these two ships, we will continue to resume the construction of two unfinished Nakhimov-class light cruisers from the old tsarist era, and it is expected that the replacement of these warships will be completed within the following year. In addition, in the Black Sea, we also have a cruiser USS Caucasus that is being reborn, which has a noticeable design improvement over the two ships of the same class in the Baltic Sea. Due to the lack of funding and the experience of the design team, we had to build on the legacy of Tsarist Russia in order to maintain and revive the combat effectiveness of the Navy at the lowest cost. ”

"Are the design teams inexperienced......" Stalin muttered to himself, and a fierce anger suddenly burst out of his eyes; Rao is Andrei was more than seventy percent sure that Stalin was not targeting him, and a cold chill still came from his spine. He was a little afraid to look at Stalin's yellow-brown eyes, and he stubbornly said, "Yes." At present, the oldest of the design team of the Baltic Shipyard is only 38 years old, and these young engineers do not have a solid foundation, and it is already the limit of their ability to refurbish and design the 6,800-ton light cruiser left over from the Tsarist era. It turns out that the old engineers who were able to take charge of themselves in the old Tsarist Russia have long been missing in the civil war, and the Cheka suspects that they have all fled abroad for refuge, because there is no clue to them at home. In addition, we also lack skilled workers and shipbuilding-related industrial equipment, which is also a problem that we need to take time to solve. ”

"If that's the case, isn't the rebuilding of the Navy a dream that simply can't be realized?" Stalin spoke slowly, his eyes deep, but anyone could hear the intense anger in his words. By the time these young designers grew up, it would be five or six years later, and it would have been an unspeakable torture for Stalin, a dictator with a yearning for the Great Navy, to wait so long. In addition, Stalin also felt a deep resentment against the loss of domestic technical talent; It is simply an intolerable and extremely humiliating situation for great, glorious, and correct socialism to be thrown out ten streets by the evil old empire in terms of industrial achievements!

Andrei cautiously glanced at the leader of the country, whose anger was rising, and said softly: "However, if the central government really decides to vigorously build the navy, there is still a way to achieve it." Now, in addition to several state-owned shipyards, there is now a private shipyard run by Germans in Leningrad; In order to evade the surveillance of the British and French, they transferred a considerable number of personnel and equipment from Germany to us, and there were no problems in technology and production. If the central government places an order with this Deying shipyard called 'Alliance', it is estimated that it will also be able to meet the expansion needs of the navy. ”