Alternatives to Sovetsky Soyuz Battleships (Project 23)

[LostCosmonaut]

During the late 1930s/early 1940s, the Soviet Union attempted to build the Sovetsky Soyuz class battleships. It did not go well. The Soviets had never built any ships larger than a light cruiser or armed with 16 inch guns. (Though navweaps does mention that 16 inch armed battleships were planned prior to the Russian Revolution). Also, Soviet steel manufacturers proved unable to manufacture armor in the required thickness. This, along with other flaws, meant that of 16 planned battleships, only four were laid down by 1941, and all of those were scrapped after the war (none came close to completion).

 

In retrospect, it would have been better if the steel, time, and other resources on the battleships had gone to other uses. However, could the Soviets have developed a reasonably competent battleship or heavy cruiser design in that time period? If so, what might it have looked like?

 

 

[Khand-e]

I've posted this before (I think), but this site shows Project 23 aswell as many alternate designs that were considered from the 1920s all the way up to the early 50s (aswell as a carrier design), the big problem is that the entire site is in Hungarian.

 

http://acelmonstrum.host22.com/szth.html