The Kresta I class, Soviet designation Project 1134 Berkut (
golden eagle
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird ...
), was a class of
guided missile cruiser built in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
for the
Soviet Navy. The ships were designed for a surface warfare role, but Soviet priorities were changed to an anti-submarine role and only four ships were built in this configuration. They were followed by the , an anti-submarine warfare variant.
Design
Though considerably larger, more effective and reliable than the previous Soviet cruiser class, the , the Kresta I surface warfare cruisers carried only half as many Shaddock launch tubes and one-fourth the total number of missiles. Initially it was planned to fit the
SS-N-12 Sandbox (P-500 Bazalt) missile but the protracted development of this missile led to the older SS-N-3 being shipped. The self-defence armament was considerably increased as were command and communications facilities.
The Kresta Is could launch four
SS-N-3b SLCMs and 44
SA-N-1 surface-to-air missiles with two twin launchers fore and aft, and had ten torpedo tubes. A single
Ka-25 Hormone B helicopter was carried for targeting the
cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warh ...
, and mid-course corrections.
Variants
* Project 934: Variant armed with eight short range anti ship missiles (SS-N-9) otherwise similar to the ships built. This design evolved into the Kresta II class.
* Project 934K: This was a larger flagship variant with enlarged command facilities and a bigger hangar for four or five helicopters. This variant was cancelled.
Ships
The initial plan was for a single squadron of seven ships armed with long range missiles and two squadrons of fourteen ships armed with shorter range missiles. In reality only four ships were built before production switched to the anti-submarine variant the Kresta II class.
All the ships were built by the
Zhdanov Shipyard in
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 ...
.
See also
*
List of ships of the Soviet Navy
This is a list of ships and classes of the Soviet Navy.
Corvettes
In the Soviet Navy these were classified as small anti-submarine ships (MPK) or small missile ships (MRK).
* (projects 122A, 122bis)
* (project 204)
* (project 1124 ''Al'bat ...
*
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
* Also published as
External links
- Article in Russian*
{{Soviet and Russian ships after 1945
Cruiser classes
Ships of the Soviet Navy