Well, nothing is telling us that they are that far ahead anymore. They lost quite a lot of ships in the battle in Zukhov and against the Behemot.
True. However, after the first behemoth was destroyed, there were still 33 13,800 ton ships detected when the Novorossiysk did another probe, and the probe did
not detect any other ships.
However, the Russians were then attacked by 8 13,800 ton ships
plus a destroyer. This leads to two points:
1) That the Goavelha have
at least another 25 13,800 ton ships left (plus the 16 bases in orbit);
2) That the probe by Novorossiysk was incomplete, as it didn't pick up the DD that was part of the force that attacked the Russians.
Now the point that the Novorossiysk didn't pick up the DD is the one I'd like to emphase, as it means that we don't
know how many ships the Behemoth destroyed, and how many are left....
If the Soviet could lure the second Behemot into Goavelha, I'm pretty sure they could defeat what'll be left of the fleet.
While I'm normally the voice of conservatism, I'd have to agree with you here....