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 World War II 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.
This class of cruiser satisfied the desire of
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
, and of the leadership within the Soviet Navy, for a ship that was in keeping with a Naval doctrine focused on three priorities: supporting the defense of the Soviet coastline, operating out of naval bases worldwide, and protecting Arctic, Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea interests. Secondary missions envisioned for this class of ship were commerce raiding, and political presence in the third world. But they were considered obsolete, for the missile age in which defensive and anti submarine resources were the priority, by
Soviet Premier Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and Premier of the Soviet Union, chairm ...
and the
Soviet Defence staff, which only grudgingly conceded some cruisers for limited roles as flagships in strategic and tactical naval operations. Within the Soviet Navy, leading Admirals still believed in 1959 that more big cruisers would be useful in the sort of operations planned in Cuba and in support of Indonesia. The ''Sverdlov''s were also a threat to the British and Dutch Navies, which lacked 24-hour day/night carrier capability before satellite surveillance.
The big ship threat to the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
was real, and was useful to it in justifying conventional fleet and carrier construction, especially in the North Atlantic.
The response was to introduce the
Blackburn Buccaneer, a carrier-based
strike aircraft
An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pres ...
that had the performance required to approach and attack ''Sverdlov''-class ships at ultra low level, using
toss bombing
Toss bombing (sometimes known as loft bombing, and by the U.S. Air Force as the Low Altitude Bombing System, LABS) is a method of bombing where the attacking aircraft pulls upward when releasing its bomb load, giving the bomb additional time of f ...
attacks to deliver nuclear ordnance, while remaining outside the 5 km lethal range of the Soviet 100 mm and 37 mm guns. When the building program was cut back and the battlecruisers and carriers were cancelled, the ''Sverdlov''s were left dangerously unprotected when operating in areas outside the cover of land-based aircraft. Their secondary mission, operating on their own as
commerce raiders
Commerce raiding (french: guerre de course, "war of the chase"; german: Handelskrieg, "trade war") is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than eng ...
, was also compromised as they would be extremely vulnerable, in good weather, to USN Carrier Battle Groups equipped with modern strike aircraft and to the remaining and -class cruisers equipped with 8-inch guns. (The Royal Navy's last, and -class gun cruisers, and the USN's and -class destroyers, lacked armour, range and speed required to counter the ''Sverdlovs.'')
In 1954 ''Sverdlov'' class construction was cancelled by Khrushchev after 14 hulls had been completed. Two additional hulls were scrapped on the slip and four partially complete ''Sverdlov''s launched in 1954 were scrapped in 1959. The remaining ships in the Soviet Fleet remained in service through the 1970s, when they underwent a limited modernization program before finally leaving service in the late 1980s.
The only remaining ship of the class, ''Mikhail Kutuzov'', is preserved in
Novorossiysk
Novorossiysk ( rus, Новоросси́йск, p=nəvərɐˈsʲijsk; ady, ЦIэмэз, translit=Chəməz, p=t͡sʼɜmɜz) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities hono ...
.
History
At the end of 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 ...
,
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
planned a major modernisation and expansion of the
Soviet Navy, to turn it into a global
blue-water navy. Large numbers of cruisers were required, with roles including escorting heavier ships and leading destroyers.
[Gardiner and Chumbley, pp. 340–341.] To speed production, it was decided to build an improved version of the pre-war (or Project 68), the ''Sverdlov'' (or Project 68B) instead of a wholly new design (Project 65). The design for the ''Sverdlov'' class was formally approved on 27 May 1947.
[Gardiner and Chumbley, p. 379][Jarovoj and Greger, pp. 154–155] Some sources state that 30 ''Sverdlov''s were initially planned, with the order being cut by five in favour of the three s,
[Jarovoj and Greger, p. 155] but others state that the total of 30 includes the five ''Chapayev''s. The first three ships of the class were named after cancelled ships of the ''Chapayev'' class.
Following the death of Stalin in 1953, this order was cut to 21.
Once the first fifteen hulls were laid down, the Soviet Navy decided that the remaining six ships be completed to a modified design (Project 68zif) with provisions for protection against nuclear fallout, but none were completed. Plans were developed and drawings were created to upgrade the ships to support a cruise missile capability; however, these plans were dropped and new construction was cancelled in 1959; incomplete ships except ''Admiral Kornilov'' (which became a
Hulk
The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...
) were scrapped by 1961.
Reductions in cruiser force levels was contrary to the views of Soviet Navy leadership, which insisted cruisers still provided a valuable capability to act as command ships for naval gunfire support of amphibious operations. They also thought they would provide a political presence in contested areas of the third world, e.g. Cuba and Indonesia. Had more ''Sverdlov''s been available at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, they would certainly have been deployed. The Soviet Navy intended to base several older ''Chapayev'' class cruisers at Cuban ports, had the operation succeeded.
These ships were outclassed as surface combatants, due to their lack of an anti-ship cruise missile capability. The limited modernization of those ships still in service in the 1970s relegated them to service as
naval gunfire support
Naval gunfire support (NGFS) (also known as shore bombardment) is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support
Fire support is defined by the United States Department of Defense as " Fires that directly support land, maritime, amphibiou ...
platforms.
The standard Soviet practice was to pass the cruisers in and out of reserve status. Most were relegated to a reserve status by the early 1980s.
Today, only one of the ships remains: the ''Mikhail Kutuzov''. It is a
museum ship
A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...
in
Novorossiysk
Novorossiysk ( rus, Новоросси́йск, p=nəvərɐˈsʲijsk; ady, ЦIэмэз, translit=Chəməz, p=t͡sʼɜmɜz) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities hono ...
.
Design
The ''Sverdlov''-class cruisers were improved and slightly enlarged versions of the . They had the same main armament, machinery and side protection as the earlier ships, but had increased fuel capacity for greater range, an all welded hull, improved underwater protection, increased anti-aircraft artillery and radar.
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, an ...
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
draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
of 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 23
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
geared steam turbines
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 ...
generating to their shafts. This gave the ships a maximum speed of . The cruisers had a range of at .
[
''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.][
]
Modifications
By the early 1960s, the torpedo tubes were removed from all ships of the class. In 1957 the ''Admiral Nakhimov'' had a KSShch
The KSShch (russian: Корабельный снаряд «Щука» (КСЩ); tr.:''Korabelny snaryad Shchuka (KSShch)''; en, Shchuka Anti-Ship Missile, "Shchuka" – pike in English) was a Soviet anti-ship cruise missile design that carr ...
(NATO reporting name
NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...
: SS-N-1 "Scrubber") anti-ship missile
An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...
launcher installed to replace "A" and "B" turrets. The modification was designated Project 68ER. This trial installation was not successful and the ship was rapidly decommissioned and used as a target ship in 1961.[
''Dzerzhinsky'' had a SAM launcher for the M-2 Volkhov-M missile (SA-N-2 "Guideline"), which replaced the third or "X" main gun turret in 1960–62, with the designation Project 70E.][Jarovoj and Greger, p. 158] and no further ships were converted.[ As the entire missile installation was above the armored deck and the missile itself, based on the S-75 Dvina (SA-2 "Guideline"), was liquid-fueled (acid/kerosene), it would have represented a serious hazard to the ship in action.
''Zhdanov'' and ''Senyavin'' were converted to ]command ship
Command ships serve as the flagships of the commander of a fleet. They provide communications, office space, and accommodations for a fleet commander and their staff, and serve to coordinate fleet activities.
An auxiliary command ship features ...
s in 1971 by replacing the "X" turret with extra accommodation and electronics, four twin AK-230 30 mm guns, and a 4K33 "Osa-M" (SA-N-4 "Gecko") Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) system. ''Senyavin'' also had the "Y" turret removed to make room for a helicopter deck and hangar, and four additional AK-230 mounts installed atop the Osa-M missile system. ''Zhdanov'' and ''Senyavin'' were respectively designated Project 68U1 and Project 68U2.[
''Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsia'' was refitted with an enlarged ]bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
in 1977, with ''Admiral Ushakov'' and ''Aleksandr Suvorov'' receiving the same modification in 1979, and later, ''Mikhail Kutusov''. These ships had four of their 37 mm twin mounts removed, and eight 30 mm AK-230 mounts were added. These ships were designated Project 68A.[
]
Ships
Gallery
File:46 Sverdlov Bear bomber April 75.jpg, A Tu-95 Bear overflies a ''Sverdlov''-class cruiser 1975
File:RIAN archive 694190 Cruiser Dmitry Pozharsky.jpg, ''Dmitry Pozharsky'' (1968)
See also
* List of ships of the Soviet Navy
*List of ships of Russia by project number
The list of ships of Russia by project number includes all Russian ships by assigned project numbers. Ship descriptions are Russian assigned classifications when known. (The Russian term "проект" can be translated either as the cognate "pr ...
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Article in Russian language
*
{{Soviet and Russian ships after 1945
Cruiser classes