[Bluedwarf]

Greetings

On the note of lower tech, I have noticed that many russian feild engineers with small backyard workshops are pretty capable of making 'makeshift' modification. Having beenin the ex-USSR, I have seen that every major centre had it's own bomb shelter, and this was particularly true of industrial areas, so it is quite likely that a small portion, enought to make machinery to convert small craft to steam, would have survived someplace. In particular, taking some of these small craft and converting them to steam, to run off wood (available in great supply in Russia) would seem to be a very logical step in the event fuel oil was not available. No where near as efficient, so range and speed would be reduced, but it is likely they could still get 20-25kts for a few hundred km. I am sure most small vessels still in use would have had such conversions throughout the world within the first decade of liquid fuel not being available. This would make wood, and hence forests, a much higher value target, both for heating and transport, but I have not seen any of that in the Twilight modules. Did I miss that?

Regardless, the USSR has always been seen as being strongest as a coastal navy, and thier ideology and srtucture are somewhat different from the West. In most wars, they have opted for larger numbers of lower tech items that are more easily maintained in the feild, and this is also true of thier navy. Forays into larger naval conflicts out of range of land-based aircraft and support have rarely gone well for them, so in reality they would be hesitant in sending more than boomers and ICBN's much further than their coast. This could explain the decimation of NATO navies...attacking the Soviets at home has always been a dangerous affair, and the Navies would have taken the brunt of any amphibious assault.

On another note, Stalin had many very ambitious ideas, one of them to join the Black sea and the Caspian sea with a naval channel. Another was to create a naval channel by joining existing waterways from St Petersburg northeast to Voznesene, then through, Povenets and Nadvoltsy to make another seige of Stalingrad much more difficult, and to ensure that the navy to the north could reinforce the baltic quickly if needed. I am not sure if that channel was ever completed, but if it was many ships could well escape the baltic blockade if they were needed elsewhere.