Soviet cruiser Kirov

''Kirov'' ( rus, Киров, p=ˈkʲirəf) was a Project 26 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.

Description

''Kirov'' was long, had a beam of and had a draft between . She displaced at standard load and at full load. Her steam turbines produced a total of and she reached on trials.Yakubov and Worth, p. 90

''Kirov'' carried nine 57-caliber B-1-P guns in three electrically powered MK-3-180 triple turrets. Her secondary armament consisted of six single 56-caliber B-34 anti-aircraft guns fitted on each side of the rear funnel. Her light AA guns consisted of six semi-automatic 21-K AA guns and four DK machine guns.Yakubov and Worth, pp. 86-7 Six 39-Yu torpedo tubes were fitted in two triple mountings.Yakubov and Worth, p. 88

Wartime modifications

By 1944 ''Kirov'' exchanged her guns for ten fully automatic 70-K AA guns with a thousand rounds per gun, two extra DK machine guns and one Lend-Lease quadruple Vickers .50 machine gun MK III mount.

''Kirov'' lacked any radar when war broke out in 1941, but by 1944 was equipped with British Lend-Lease models. One Type 291 was used for air search. One Type 284 and two Type 285 radars were for main battery fire control, while anti-aircraft fire control was provided by two Type 282 radars.

Post-war refit

''Kirov'' was completely overhauled from 1949 to 1953. Her secondary armament was upgraded with electrically powered, fully automated 100 mm B-34USM mountings and her fire-control system was replaced with a Zenit-26 system with SPN-500 stabilized directors. All of her light AA guns were replaced with nine twin gun water-cooled 37 mm V-11 mounts. All of her radars were replaced with Soviet systems: Rif surface search, Gyuys air search, Zalp surface gunnery and Yakor' anti-aircraft gunnery radars. All anti-submarine weapons, torpedo launchers, aircraft equipment and boat cranes were removed. While expensive, about half the cost of a new Project 68bis , it was deemed a success and allowed ''Kirov'' to serve for another two decades.

Service

''Kirov'' was laid down at the Ordzhonikidze Yard, Leningrad on 22 October 1935. She was launched on 30 November 1936 and was completed on 26 September 1938. She was commissioned into the Baltic Fleet in the autumn of 1938, but was still being worked on into early 1939.Yakubov and Worth, p. 91 ''Kirov'' sailed to Riga on 22 October when the Soviet Union began to occupy Latvia, continuing on to Liepāja the following day.

World War II

During the Winter War, ''Kirov'', escorted by the destroyers ''Smetlivyi'' and ''Stremitel'nyi'', attempted to bombard Finnish coast defense guns at Russarö, south of Hanko on 30 November. She only fired 35 rounds before she was damaged by a number of near misses and had to return to the Soviet naval base at Liepāja for repairs. She remained there for the rest of the Winter War and afterwards was under repair at Kronstadt from October 1940 to 21 May 1941.

Based near Riga at the time of the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, ''Kirov'' was trapped in the Gulf of Riga by the rapid enemy advance. She supported minelaying sorties by Soviet destroyers in the western half of the Irben Strait on the evenings of 24–25 and 26–27 June. Off-loading her fuel and ammunition to reduce her draft, she passed through the shallow Moon Sound Channel (between Muhu island and the Estonian mainland) with great difficulty, and managed to reach Tallinn by the end of June. ''Kirov'' provided gunfire support during the defense of Tallinn and served as the flagship of the evacuation fleet from Tallinn to Leningrad at the end of August 1941. For most of the rest of the war she was blockaded in Leningrad and Kronstadt by Axis minefields and could only provide gunfire support for the defenders during the siege of Leningrad. She was damaged by a number of German air and artillery attacks, most seriously on 4–5 April 1942 when she was hit by three bombs and one shell that damaged all six 100 mm AA guns, the aft funnel, the mainmast, and killed 86 sailors and wounded 46. Repairs took two months during which her catapult was removed; a lighter pole mainmast was fitted and her anti-aircraft armament increased. After Leningrad was liberated in early 1944, ''Kirov'' remained there, and took no further part in the war except to provide gunfire support for the Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive in mid–1944.Whitley, p. 211

Post-war

''Kirov'' was damaged by a German magnetic mine while leaving Kronstadt on 17 October 1945 and was under repair until 20 December 1946. She was refitted from November 1949 to April 1953, during which her machinery was completely overhauled and her radars, fire control systems and anti-aircraft guns were replaced by the latest Soviet systems. She participated in fleet maneuvers in the North Sea during January 1956. She was reclassified as a training cruiser, regularly visiting Poland and East Germany, on 2 August 1961 and sold for scrap on 22 February 1974. When ''Kirov'' was decommissioned, two gun turrets were installed in Saint Petersburg as a monument.

File:Kirov_Forward_Turrets_3.jpg, Kirov memorial and environment
File:Kirov_Forward_Turrets_2.jpg, Kirov memorial
File:Kirov_Forward_Turrets_4_plaque.jpg, Kirov memorial plaque
File:1973 CPA 4276.jpg, 1973 Soviet stamp featuring ''Kirov''

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirov
Kirov-class cruisers
Ships built at the Baltic Shipyard
1936 ships
World War II cruisers of the Soviet Union
Cold War cruisers of the Soviet Union
Maritime incidents in October 1945