After Admiral Isakov of the Bolshevik Navy left the Kremlin, he headed straight for the airport and flew to Murmansk.
Although Ulyanovsk had already fallen to the German military, the territories farther north remained under Buru control. Especially now, with the weather so cold, the German military had made no further moves. This still allowed Buru to use those territories to transport supplies and the like. However, moving supplies amid skies full of ice and snow had always been extremely difficult.
Although Murmansk lay at a very high latitude, the North Atlantic warm current kept it from freezing in winter, making it one of Buru's few ice-free ports. That was why, after leaving Ulyanovsk, the Bolshevik Navy had relocated its base here.
Before the plane landed, Admiral Isakov saw four enormous battleships moored in the harbor. These four battleships were the Bolshevik-class battleships purchased from Germany. With a full-load displacement of forty-five thousand tons, they were armed with three triple-mounted 45-caliber 410mm Main Guns. Twenty years ago, even ten years ago, they would have counted as extremely powerful Capital Ships. Unfortunately, by present standards, these battleships were already outdated.
Their speed was too slow, their armor too weak, and their firepower was not particularly strong. On top of that, they had very few anti-aircraft guns, making them nothing more than living targets when attacked by enemy carrier-based aircraft. It was therefore obvious that Germany had talked Buru into buying these Capital Ships purely to fleece them. With the German Navy's current strength, it could easily send these Capital Ships to the bottom of the sea.
Even so, these four Capital Ships had become the Bolshevik Navy's most powerful warships. After sensing the threat from the air, the Bolshevik Navy had also installed quite a few anti-aircraft guns on the four