After the Italian capitulation in 1943, the Soviet Union was to be awarded a battleship from the Regia Marina as war reparations. However, due to concerns about mutiny from Italian sailors in the newly Allied country, a compromise decision was made the following year by the United Kingdom to transfer the old Revenge-class battleship HMS Royal Sovereign to the Soviet Navy on loan as a placeholder ship until the reparation issue was sorted out. After being transferred on 30 May 1944, the Royal Sovereign was renamed Arkhangelsk. The ex-Royal Navy ship, then the largest in the Red Navy, was assigned to escort Arctic convoys to the port of Kola.

However, due to a number of factors including lack of winterisation to endure the cold Arctic climate, Arkhangelsk's condition rapidly deteriorated within just four years. At one point, she even ran aground in the White Sea in late 1947. When the ex-Italian battleship Giulio Cesare (later renamed Novorossiysk) was transferred to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet in 1949 as part of reparations, the British demanded the Soviet Union return the Arkhangelsk. Due to the ship's poor condition, the Soviets initially claimed that she would not be able to make the trip, but relented after an inspection by the Royal Navy. After being returned to Britain, the ship was renamed back to Royal Sovereign and was immediately scrapped.

Introduced in Update "Storm Warning", the Arkhangelsk represents a what-if version of the loaned British battleship had she been properly maintained under the Red Navy's service. Unlike her 'predecessor' in her line, the ex-Italian Novorossiysk, Arkhangelsk retains all of her armaments from her time with the Royal Navy, including her eight huge 15-inch (381 mm) guns. Because of this, she drastically differs from any domestic Soviet ships within the tree, being specialised at gunnery at longer ranges thanks to her large SAP shell with high penetration power, though this is still offset by her terrible mobility and top speed, as with the other battleships.