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T
he maiden voyage this pas t
July of the Soviet Union 's
first aircraft carrier, the
40,000-ton
Kiev,
is but a har–
binger of greater things to come for
the Soviet navy, according to lead–
ing Western military experts. With
its advent, a n ew chapter in
Moscow's growing challenge to the
Wes t has opened up.
Jane's Fighting Ships,
the author–
ita ti ve reference for the world 's
navies, declares that the Soviet
navy 's g row i ng "blue- water· ·
s trength and worldwide deployment
appear designed for a
war ofaggres–
sion
against the West.
Jane's,
in its
1976-1977
ed ition,
reports that the Soviet Union now
has three times as many s ub–
marines, for exampl e, as the United
S tates.
The American underwater fteet.
on the other hand, includes 73 at–
tack submarines. designed specifi–
cally to seek out and destroy enemy
submarines. The Sov iets have few. if
any. su bmarines designed for this
purpose. But
Jane's
added that the
2
The Soviet admira/ty openly proclaims that its
goal is dominance of the world 's oceans. The
U.S.S.R. is also wresting nuclear weapons
superiority from the U. S. despite treaties designed
to halt the arms race. What wi/1 the West's
response be to the growing Soviet challenge?
SOVIETS
PLANNING TO
WINTHE
"UNTHINKABLE"
K!4R
Soviets are pushing ahead with a
formidabl e submarine build ing p ro–
gram, including more nuclear-pow–
e red U-boats armed with low-level
cruise missiles, short-range ballistic
miss iles, and intercontinental mis–
si les with a range of 4,200 m iles,
able to s trike ta rgets throughout
No rth America. China. and Wes te rn
Europe from patrol areas close to
their Arctic Ocean bases.
The United States continues to
have an overwhelming lead in car–
riers. according to
J ane's.
The
present force cons is ts of 13 ft al tops,
two of them nuclear powered. But
with lhe inlroduclion of the heavily
armed
Kiev,
the U.S.S.R. has started
lo challenge America's ycars-long
su p remacy in the ca rrier fi eld as
well.
Jane's
predicts a total of six
Kiev-class
ca rr iers will be bui lt.
' 'The armament of the new [So–
viet] ships and the inlroduction o f
carrier-borne aircraft has s uggested
an extended o utlook beyond that of
pure defense."
Jane's
sa id in a fore–
word lo the annual volume by its
ed iLOr. Caplain John E. Moorc.
by
Gene H. Hogberg
Captain Moore. who is also a
fo rmer deputy chief of Britis h Naval
Intelligence. added: "When in the
past a cou ntry with few overseas
fi–
nancia ! or colon ial interests has em–
barked on lh e b uilding of a
conside rable ftee t. th e true aims of
lhe ships conce rned have proved to
be not only protection of the home–
land and the sea lines of communi–
cations which run to it. but a lso
aggress ive activilies designed to sup–
port na tiona l policy."
Gorshkov's Bold Outline
The
Jane's
assessment is worrisome
enough. But now from h igh up
wi l h in th e Soviet mil itary itse lf
comes a brutally frank analysis of
what Moscow intends lo do wit h its
growing naval might.
1n a new. 463-page book.
The
Maririme Power of rhe Srare.
Admi–
ra! Sergei Georgevich Go rshkov.
commander-in-chief of the Soviet
navy for lhe past2 1years and archi–
tect of its remarkable ascend ancy.
ou tlines no thing other than total
globa l supremacy at sea for the So-
The
PLAIN TRUTH November 1976