Скачать или смотреть How the Soviets let Their Lend Lease/ War Prizes Rust and rot Away

After World War II, the Soviet Union found itself with one of the largest land armies in the world—but its navy lagged behind. To rapidly bolster its maritime forces, the USSR took advantage of war spoils, Lend-Lease agreements, and diplomatic arrangements to acquire a wide array of foreign warships. In this video, we explore some of the most unusual and historically fascinating vessels that entered Soviet service—ranging from British dreadnoughts and American cruisers to German battleships and Italian destroyers.

One of the most notable acquisitions was the Royal Sovereign, a British battleship completed during World War I. Outclassed by World War II standards, the ship was nevertheless transferred to the Soviets in 1944 and rechristened Arkhangelsk. Though her combat usefulness was limited, she symbolized Allied cooperation. She spent the remainder of the war guarding convoys in the Arctic before being returned to Britain in poor condition and scrapped shortly afterward.

Another Allied transfer was the American light cruiser USS Milwaukee, a member of the Omaha-class. Loaned to the Soviet Navy in 1944, she was renamed Murmansk and became the largest surface combatant in the Northern Fleet. Though she saw minimal action, she conducted training cruises and returned to the U.S. in 1949, marking the end of her unique service.

Among the most peculiar transfers were former German warships captured or scuttled and later raised by Soviet forces. The ex-German battleship Schleswig-Holstein—famous for firing the first shots of WWII at Westerplatte—was raised and temporarily added to the Soviet fleet before being sunk as a target in 1947. Likewise, the old Hessen was converted into a target ship and served under the name Tsel until 1960.

The heavy cruiser Lützow, an incomplete Admiral Hipper-class vessel, was sold to the USSR in 1940 and became Petropavlovsk. Though never completed, her forward turrets were active in the defense of Leningrad. She was later renamed Tallinn and remained in service as a floating battery before being scrapped in 1960.

The Soviet Union also received several Italian vessels as part of the postwar reparations agreed to in the Paris Peace Treaties. The most prominent of these was the battleship Giulio Cesare, transferred in 1949 and renamed Novorossiysk. She tragically exploded in 1955, likely due to a German mine. The light cruiser Duca d’Aosta, renamed Kerch, also saw Soviet service as a training vessel into the 1960s.

Even lesser-known ships like the Finnish coastal defense ship Väinämöinen, renamed Vyborg, found their way into Soviet hands, operating primarily in a training capacity before being scrapped in the mid-1960s.

Finally, the unfinished German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin—a symbol of Nazi naval ambition—was raised by Soviet engineers and used for weapons testing before being sunk in 1947.

From Allied hand-me-downs to enemy trophies, these vessels represent a patchwork of 20th-century naval history, each telling a story of shifting alliances, wartime improvisation, and the Soviet quest for maritime power in a postwar world.

Intro 0:00
British 1:10
American 7:39
German 11:39
Finnish 25:24
Italian 27:20
Conclusion 30:56

Sources/Other Reading:

https://www.amazon.com/Italian-Battle...

https://www.amazon.com/Mussolinis-Nav...

https://www.usni.org/press/books/russ...

https://www.amazon.com/Warships-Sovie...

https://www.amazon.com/British-Battle...

https://www.amazon.com/German-Light-C...

https://www.amazon.com/Spoils-War-Ene...

Video Information:
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