In 1935, the authorities of the U.S.S.R. decided to build a big fleet, and the nations design bureaus began to develop draft designs of battleships. One such ship was a battleship for the Baltic Sea, which was to have a displacement of 35,000 tons, nine 406 mm guns, and a 350 mm-thick armored belt. A preliminary design was ready by June—the ship had a Nelson-like layout but was rejected due to tactical reasons. Designs of this class were the basis of Type A battleships, which later evolved into the Sovetsky Soyuz-class battleships.