Wikipedia:Today's featured list/April 2, 2021
The first Russian battlecruisers were developed after the end of the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, when the Russian Naval General Staff decided that it needed a squadron of fast "armored cruisers" that could use their speed to maneuver into position to engage the head of the enemy's battle line, much as Admiral Tōgō had done during the Battle of Tsushima against the Russian fleet. However, World War I and the Russian Civil War interrupted the construction of the Russian Borodino-class ships (example pictured), and all were scrapped. Twenty years later, the Soviet Navy issued a requirement for a ship capable of dealing with enemy cruisers, but the design began to grow as it was modified to allow for combat with German pocket battleships on even terms, and later modified to gain parity with the Scharnhorst-class battleships. Two ships were laid down in 1939, but the development of their new guns lagged significantly behind their construction, and six 38-centimeter (15 in) twin-gun turrets were ordered from Germany in 1940. (This list is part of a featured topic: Battlecruisers of Russia.)