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

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

that served during the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and into the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. 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 The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

. 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 Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

on 22 February 1974.

Description

''Kirov'' was long, had a beam of and had a

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 v ...

between . She displaced at standard load and at full load. Her

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s produced a total of and she reached on trials.Yakubov and Worth, p. 90 ''Kirov'' carried nine 57-

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge ( ...

B-1-P guns in three electrically powered MK-3-180 triple turrets. Her

secondary armament Secondary armaments are smaller, faster-firing weapons that are typically effective at a shorter range than the main battery, main (heavy) weapons on military systems, including battleship- and cruiser-type warships, tanks/armored personnel c ...

consisted of six single 56-caliber B-34

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

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 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 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 Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...

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

models. One Type 291 was used for air search. One Type 284 and two Type 285 radars were for

main battery A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a naval gun or group of guns used in volleys, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, th ...

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 A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a hum ...

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 Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

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 The Baltic Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. Established 18 May 1703, under Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Baltic Fleet is the oldest Russian fleet. In 1918, the fleet w ...

in the autumn of 1938, but was still being worked on into early 1939.Yakubov and Worth, p. 91 ''Kirov'' sailed to

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

on 22 October when the Soviet Union began to occupy

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, continuing on to

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

the following day.

World War II

During the

, ''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 Kronstadt (, ) is a Russian administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg, near the head ...

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 The Gulf of Riga, Bay of Riga, or Gulf of Livonia (, , ) is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. The island of Saaremaa (Estonia) partially separates it from the rest of the Baltic Sea. The main connection between the gulf and t ...

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 Muhu (also called Muhumaa in Estonian) is an island in the West Estonian archipelago of the Baltic Sea. With an area of , it is the third largest island belonging to Estonia, after Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Together with neighbouring smaller i ...

island and the

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n mainland) with great difficulty, and managed to reach

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

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

at the end of August 1941. For most of the rest of the war she was blockaded in Leningrad and

by Axis minefields and could only provide gunfire support for the defenders during the

. 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 The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

during January 1956. She was reclassified as a training cruiser, regularly visiting

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, 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''

Notes

References

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