In March 1934, the Tupolev design bureau (OKB) began work on a multi-role aircraft for Soviet Naval Aviation, intended to serve as a high-speed, long-range torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft and "cruiser" (i.e. long-range heavy fighter), and available in both landplane and floatplane versions.
[1][4] The ANT-41 was of similar layout to the contemporary SB bomber, which had been designed by another team (led by Alexander Arkhangelsky) at the Tupolev OKB, but was larger and more powerful.
It was powered by two Mikulin AM-34 liquid-cooled V12 engines in close-fitting cowlings driving 3-bladed propellers and cooled by radiators mounted inside the wings inboard of the engines, which were fed by narrow ducts on the leading edge of the wing.
[1][6] The first prototype ANT-41, a landplane, made its maiden flight from Khodynka Aerodrome, Moscow on 2 June 1936, with severe tail flutter encountered.
[5][8] Later that year, the Ilyushin DB-3 was chosen to meet Soviet Naval Aviation's requirements for a torpedo bomber, and the ANT-41 was cancelled, with the second prototype unbuilt.