''Zhdanov'' was a of Soviet Navy.

Development and design

The ''Sverdlov''-class cruisers, Soviet designation Project 68bis, were the last conventional gun

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

s 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. 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 Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

. 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 Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

equipment and

anti-aircraft artillery Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

. The Soviets originally planned to build 40 ships in the class, which would be supported by the s and

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

s. The ''Sverdlov'' class displaced 13,600 tons standard and 16,640 tons at full load. They were

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

and long at the waterline. They had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and draught of and typically had a complement of 1,250. The hull was a completely welded new design and the ships had a

double bottom A double hull is a ship Hull (watercraft), hull design and construction method where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull ...

for over 75% of their length. The ship also had twenty-three

watertight bulkhead Floodability is the susceptibility of a ship's construction to flooding. It also refers to the ability to intentionally flood certain areas of the hull for damage control purposes, or to increase stability, which is particularly important in comb ...

s. The ''Sverdlov''s had six boilers providing steam to two shaft

gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic pr ...

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s generating . This gave the ships a maximum speed of . The cruisers had a range of at .Gardiner and Chumbley, p. 378 ''Sverdlov''-class cruisers main armament included twelve /57 cal B-38 guns mounted in four triple Mk5-bis turrets. They also had twelve /56 cal Model 1934 guns in six twin SM-5-1 mounts. For anti-aircraft weaponry, the cruisers had thirty-two anti-aircraft guns in sixteen twin mounts and were also equipped with ten

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in two mountings of five each. The ''Sverdlov''s had

belt armor Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers. The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating to ...

and had a armored deck. The turrets were shielded by armor and the

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

, by armor. 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' 152 mm gun radars and eight 'Egg Cup' gun radars. For electronic countermeasures the ships were equipped with two 'Watch Dog' ECM systems.

Construction and career

''Zhdanov'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 11 February 1950 at

Baltic Shipyard The OJSC Baltic Shipyard (''Baltiysky Zavod'', formerly Shipyard 189 named after Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze) (russian: Балтийский завод имени С. Орджоникидзе) is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia and is part of ...

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and launched on 27 December 1950. The vessel was commissioned on 31 December 1952. On 25 January 1953, the Soviet naval flag was raised aboard the ship when the cruiser became part of the 8th task force of the KBF. Her homeport was

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. On 25 January 1954, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the raising of the naval flag, the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Navy, Admiral of the Fleet N.G. Kuznetsov, was present on the cruiser. On 24 December 1955, the cruiser was added to the

Baltic Fleet , image = Great emblem of the Baltic fleet.svg , image_size = 150 , caption = Baltic Fleet Great ensign , dates = 18 May 1703 – present , country = , allegiance = (1703–1721) (1721–1917) (1917–1922) (1922–1991)(1991–present) ...

. In September 1988, ''Zhdanov'' took part in the

exercises Exercise is a body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic s ...

of the

Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...

"Autumn-88". The cruiser was command by Captain 1st Rank A. Rimashevsky. On 21 February 1989, the name ''Zhdanov'' was removed. A new one was not assigned, and the vessel was listed as KRU 101. On 10 December 1989, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy, the vessel was re-registered as the command cruiser ''Zhdanov''. On 19 April 1990, the Soviet Navy flag was lowered and disarmament of the cruiser began for transfer to the Stock Property Department for dismantling and sale. In February 1991, the crew of the cruiser was disbanded. The cruiser was sold to a private foreign company for

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

. On 27 November 1991, ''Zhdanov'', with the tug ''Shakhtar'', departed for the port of

Alang Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Because it is home to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang beaches are considered the world's largest ship graveyard. Demographics As of the 2001 Indian census, Alan ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, to be broken up.

Pennant numbers

Gallery

File:Zhdanov1982.jpg, ''Zhdanov'' on 18 June 1982 File:Zhdanov1983a.jpg, ''Zhdanov'' underway on 10 July 1983 File:Zhdanov1983b.jpg, ''Zhdanov'' underway on 10 July 1983 File:Bezzavetnyy&Zhdanov&Magomed Gadzhiev.jpg, ''Zhdanov'' alongside '' Bezzavetnyy'' and on 30 October 1985.

References

External links

Photo gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhdanov 1950 ships Ships of the Soviet Union Ships built at the Baltic Shipyard Naval ships of the Soviet Union Sverdlov-class cruisers Cold War cruisers of the Soviet Union