How the Soviet Navy Would Have Fought World War III

Strategy revolved around protecting ballistic-missile submarines

WIB SEA July 5, 2018 Robert Farley

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Over the course of the Cold War, the balance of forces between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Soviet Union changed dramatically. At different points, a war would have played out in far different ways in the major theaters, including Central Europe, the Arctic, the North Atlantic, the Far East and even in space.

For the most part, changes to each side’s forces came slowly, with only a few significant shifts due to technological advances.

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Thus, it is worthwhile to investigate how the war would have been fought in different theaters and how the strategies by the United States and the Soviet Union would have affected the evolution of advantage.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at the balance at sea during the Carter administration. If war had broken out in the late 1970s, what role would the Soviet Navy have played?

Above — a Russian ‘Victor III’-class missile submarine. At top — the Soviet ‘Kirov’-class missile cruiser ‘Frunze’ in 1986. Pentagon photos