The Sverdlov-class cruisers, Soviet designation Project 68bis, were the last conventional gun cruisers built for the Soviet Navy. They were built in the 1950s and were based on Soviet, German, and Italian designs and concepts developed prior to the Second World War. They were modified to improve their sea keeping capabilities, allowing them to run at high speed in the rough waters of the North Atlantic. The basic hull was more modern and had better armor protection than the vast majority of the post Second World War gun cruiser designs built and deployed by peer nations. They also carried an extensive suite of modern radar equipment and anti-aircraft artillery. The Soviets originally planned to build 40 ships in the class, which would be supported by the Stalingrad-classbattlecruisers and aircraft carriers.
The Sverdlov class displaced 13,600tons standard and 16,640tons at full load. They were 210 metres (689ft 0in)long overall and 205 metres (672ft 7in) long at the waterline. They had a beam of 22 metres (72ft 2in) and draught of 6.9 metres (22ft 8in) and typically had a complement of 1,250. The hull was a completely welded new design and the ships had a double bottom for over 75% of their length. The ship also had twenty-three watertight bulkheads. The Sverdlovs had six boilers providing steam to two shaft gearedsteam turbines generating 118,100 shaft horsepower (88,100kW). This gave the ships a maximum speed of 32.5 knots (60.2km/h; 37.4mph). The cruisers had a range of 9,000 nautical miles (17,000km; 10,000mi) at 18 knots (33km/h; 21mph).[1]
Sverdlov-class cruisers main armament included twelve 152mm (6in)/57 cal B-38 guns mounted in four triple Mk5-bis turrets. They also had twelve 100mm (3.9in)/56 cal Model 1934 guns in six twin SM-5-1 mounts. For anti-aircraft weaponry, the cruisers had thirty-two 37mm (1.5in) anti-aircraft guns in sixteen twin mounts and were also equipped with ten 533mm (21in)torpedo tubes in two mountings of five each.[1]
The Sverdlovs had 100mm (3.9in)belt armor and had a 50mm (2.0in) armored deck. The turrets were shielded by 175mm (6.9in) armor and the conning tower, by 150mm (5.9in) armor.[1]
The cruisers' ultimate radar suite included one 'Big Net' or 'Top Trough' air search radar, one 'High Sieve' or 'Low Sieve' air search radar, one 'Knife Rest' air search radar and one 'Slim Net' air search radar. For navigational radar they had one 'Don-2' or 'Neptune' model. For fire control purposes the ships were equipped with two 'Sun Visor' radars, two 'Top Bow' 152mm gun radars and eight 'Egg Cup' gun radars. For electronic countermeasures the ships were equipped with two 'Watch Dog' ECM systems.[1]
From 17 to 23 July 1970 and 25 September to 1 October 1972, she took part in the war zone to carry out a combat mission to provide assistance to the Syrian armed forces.
From 17 May to 25 June 1971, 5 to 8 July and 8 to 12 September 1972, she again performed a combat mission to provide assistance to the armed forces of Egypt. From 17 to 22 August 1971, she visited Copenhagen.
From 20 to 24 July 1978, she visited Gdynia. From 8 to 10 October, she visited Rostock.
From 4 to 9 October 1979, she visited Rostock.
From 27 to 30 July 1980, she visited Gdynia.
From 9 to 14 August 1982, she visited Rostock.
On 16 September 1987, she was disarmed and decommissioned from the navy.
On 11 February 1988, she was struck by the navy.
From 1988 to 1990, she was scrapped at the Glavvtorchermet base in Leningrad.[3]
The Kirov-class cruisers were a class of six cruisers built in the late 1930s for the Soviet Navy. After the first two ships, armor protection was increased and subsequent ships are sometimes called the Maxim Gorky class. These were the first large ships built by the Soviets from the keel up after the Russian Civil War, and they were derived from the Italian cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli, being designed with assistance from the Italian Ansaldo company. Two ships each were deployed in the Black and Baltic Seas during World War II, while the last pair was still under construction in the Russian Far East and saw no combat during the war. The first four ships bombarded Axis troops and facilities after the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. All six ships survived the war and lingered in training and other secondary roles, with three being scrapped in the early 1960s and the other three a decade later.
Gangut was both the lead ship of the Gangut-class dreadnoughts of the Imperial Russian Navy built before World War I and the last of her class to be completed. She was named after the Russian victory over the Swedish Navy in the Battle of Gangut in 1714. She was completed during the winter of 1914–1915, but was not ready for combat until mid-1915. Her role was to defend the mouth of the Gulf of Finland against the Germans, who never tried to enter, so she spent her time training and providing cover for minelaying operations. Her crew joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet after the February Revolution and joined the Bolsheviks in 1918. She was laid up in 1918 for lack of manpower and not recommissioned until 1925, by which time she had been renamed Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya.
The Sverdlov-class cruisers, Soviet designation Project 68bis, were the last conventional gun cruisers built for the Soviet Navy. They were built in the 1950s and were based on Soviet, German, and Italian designs and concepts developed prior to the Second World War. They were modified to improve their sea capabilities, allowing them to run at high speed in the rough waters of the North Atlantic. The basic hull was more modern and had better armor protection than the vast majority of post-World War II gun cruiser designs built and deployed by peer nations. They also carried an extensive suite of modern radar equipment and anti-aircraft artillery. The Soviets originally planned to build 40 ships in the class, to be supported by the Stalingrad-class battlecruisers and aircraft carriers.
The Stalingrad-class battlecruiser, also known as Project 82, was a Soviet battlecruiser design from 1941. It was a smaller and less-expensive counterpart to the Kronshtadt-class battlecruisers of 1939. The original role was for a light, fast ship intended to break up attacks by British fast-cruiser forces that might attempt bombardment of Russia's northern ports. In keeping with the battlecruiser design concept, they would have been able to outgun any ship with similar speed, or outrun anything more heavily armed. Design work had just started when the German invasion of the Soviet Union opened and the design was put on hold.
Novík was a destroyer of the Russian Imperial Navy and Soviet Navy, commissioned in 1913 where she served with the Baltic Fleet during World War I. She joined the Bolsheviks in November 1917 and was renamed Yakov Sverdlov in 1923. She was a training ship when Operation Barbarossa began, but was recalled to active duty the following day. She struck a mine on 28 August 1941 and sank while escorting an evacuation convoy during the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn.
Kirov was a Project 26 Kirov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy that served during the Winter War and World War II, and into the Cold War. She attempted to bombard Finnish coast defense guns during action in the Winter War, but was driven off by a number of near misses that damaged her. She led the Evacuation of Tallinn at the end of August 1941, before being blockaded in Leningrad where she could only provide gunfire support during the siege of Leningrad. She bombarded Finnish positions during the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive in mid-1944, but played no further part in the war. Kirov was reclassified as a training cruiser on 2 August 1961 and sold for scrap on 22 February 1974.
Murmansk was a light cruiser project no. 68-bis of the Soviet and later the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet.
Molotov was a Project 26bis Kirov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy that served during World War II and into the Cold War. She supported Soviet troops during the Siege of Sevastopol, the Kerch-Feodosiya Operation and the amphibious landings at Novorossiysk at the end of January 1943.
Mikhail Kutuzov is a light cruiser project no. 68-bis of the Soviet and later the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet.
RI Irian (201), previously named Ordzhonikidze was a Sverdlov-class cruiser, Soviet designation "Project 68bis", of the Soviet Navy that was acquired by Indonesian Navy in the 1960s.
Sverdlov was the lead ship of the Sverdlov-class cruisers of the Soviet Navy. The ship was constructed at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad, Soviet Union and was launched on 5 July 1950. The cruiser was commissioned on 15 May 1952. The lead ship of the last class of gun cruisers of the Soviet Navy, Sverdlov spent most of her career making ceremonial port visits to allied and non-allied nations. From 1966 to 1972, the vessel was laid up out of service, only operating again before being laid up again in 1977. In 1989 the ship was disarmed and sold for scrap to an Indian company and broken up in 1993.
Zhdanov was a Sverdlov-class cruiser of Soviet Navy.
Admiral Ushakov was a Sverdlov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy.
Aleksandr Suvorov was a Sverdlov-class cruiser of Soviet Navy.
Admiral Senyavin was a Sverdlov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy.
Dmitry Pozharsky was a Sverdlov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy.
Aleksandr Nevsky was a Sverdlov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy.
Admiral Lazarev was a Sverdlov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy.
Dzerzhinsky was a Sverdlov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy.
Admiral Nakhimov was a Sverdlov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy.
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