Sovetskaya Belorussiya, was cancelled on 19 October 1940 after serious construction flaws were found. Construction of the other three ships was suspended shortly after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, and never resumed. All three of the surviving hulls were scrapped in the late 1940s. Foreign-built ships Arkhangelsk was loaned by the Royal Navy in 1944 in lieu of reparations from Italy. She was assigned to the Northern Fleet with the name of Arkhangelsk and used to escort convoys during the war. Returned to Britain in poor condition in 1949 when the USSR received the and sold for scrap. Novorossiysk The Italian battleship Giulio Cesare was turned over to the Soviet Union by Italy in 1948 as war reparations. Renamed Novorossiysk, she was assigned to the Black Sea Fleet. Sunk with 608 deaths following explosion in 1955; probably due to striking a leftover German mine. See also List of battleships Notes Footnotes Citations References Battleship Russia