''Maxim Gorky'' () was a Project 26bis 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 saw action during

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 continued in service 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 ...

. The ship's bow was blown off by a mine 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 ...

during the opening stages of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, but she made it to

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 ...

for repairs. However, after being repaired, the ship was trapped in harbour for most of the war, by Axis minefields at

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 ...

and Kronstadt. Despite being trapped, ''Maxim Gorky'' was active in two engagements: the ship provided gunfire in support for the defenders 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 ...

, and she later bombarded Finnish positions during the

Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive The Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensive or Karelian offensive was a strategic operation by the Soviet Leningrad and Karelian Fronts against Finland on the Karelian Isthmus and East Karelia fronts of the Continuation War, on the Eastern Front of Wor ...

in mid-1944. She saw no further action in World War II. A major modernization was begun in 1953, but the navy reconsidered the cost-effectiveness of the refit and work was cancelled in 1955. ''Maxim Gorky'' was sold for scrap in 1959.

Description

''Maxim Gorky'' was long at the waterline, and long overall. She 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.Yakubov and Worth, p. 84 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 during her

sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s and propelled the ship to a maximum speed of . This was barely short of her designed speed of 37 knots and was because she was over overweight. She normally carried of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...

, at full load and at overload. This gave her an endurance of at . ''Maxim Gorky'' carried nine 57-

calibre In guns, particularly firearms, but not artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or wher ...

B-1-P guns in three electrically powered MK-3-180 triple turrets. Her secondary armament consisted of six single 56-calibre 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 anti-aircraft guns consisted of nine semi-automatic 21-K guns and four

DShK The DShK M1938 (Cyrillic: ДШК, for ) is a Soviet heavy machine gun. The weapon may be vehicle mounted or used on a tripod or wheeled carriage as a heavy infantry machine gun. The DShK's name is derived from its original designer, Vasily Degtya ...

machine guns.Yakubov and Worth, pp. 86–87 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 ''Maxim Gorky'' had exchanged her guns for 15 fully automatic 37 mm 70-K AA guns with one thousand rounds per gun, two extra DsHK machine guns and two quadruple

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) * ...

Vickers .50 machine gun The Vickers .5 inch machine gun (officially "Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-in") also known as the Vickers .50 was a large-calibre British automatic weapon. The gun was commonly used as a close-in anti-aircraft weapon on Royal Navy and Allied ships, ...

MK III mounts. When war broke out in 1941 ''Maxim Gorky'' lacked

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

, but she was equipped with British

radar by 1944. 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.

Service

''Maxim Gorky'' was laid down at the

Ordzhonikidze Yard The OJSC Baltic Shipyard (''Baltiysky Zavod'', formerly Shipyard 189 named after Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze) () is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia and is part of United Shipbuilding Corporation today. It is located in Saint Petersburg in th ...

on 20 December 1936 as a slightly improved version, Project 26bis as designated by the Soviets, of the first pair of ''Kirov''-class cruisers, which were called Project 26. She was launched on 30 April 1938 and was completed on 12 December 1938. The ship, and her escorts, ran into the German-laid "Apolda"

minefield A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

in the

while providing cover for Soviet defensive mining efforts on 23 June 1941 and ''Maxim Gorky'' and the destroyer both lost their bows, although ''Gorky'' made it to port where temporary repairs were made. The ship was transferred, with assistance, to

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 ...

and later to

. She had a new bow section fabricated at Kronstadt and it was mated with the ship on 21 July. For most of the rest of the war she was blockaded in Leningrad and Kronstadt by

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

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

, for example she fired 285 180 mm shells on 4 September 1941 and 701 rounds during the

Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive The Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha offensive, also known as Operation January Thunder and Neva-2, was a campaign between the Soviet Leningrad Front and the German 18th Army fought for the western approaches of Leningrad in 14–30 January 1944. Backg ...

in January 1944. The cruiser was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

on 22 March for her "exemplary fulfillment of combat missions" and the "courage and valor" demonstrated by her crew.Chernyshev and Kulagin, p. 96 She also bombarded Finnish positions as part of the 4th Artillery Group during the Soviet

in June, firing a hundred 180 mm shells off Kuokkala on 9 June. ''Maxim Gorky'' was repeatedly, if lightly, damaged by German air and artillery attacks, but her only extended refit occurred over the winter of 1942–43 when her upper deck was reinforced with 37-millimetre armour plates.Yakubov and Worth, pp. 91, 93

Postwar career

Following the end of the war, ''Maxim Gorky'' was transferred to the squadron of the 4th Fleet in the Southern Baltic when the Baltic Fleet was briefly divided on 25 February 1946. As the squadron headquarters she relocated 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 ...

and then

Baltiysk Baltiysk ( ); ; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; ; ; is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separ ...

. To participate in a parade, the cruiser briefly returned to Leningrad on 7 November 1947. ''Maxim Gorky'' tested the first Soviet naval

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

, the Kamov Ka-10 in December 1950. The helicopter was located on the aft deck and made the first helicopter landing aboard a Soviet warship on 7 December, watched by chief designer Nikolay Kamov. She was relocated to

pending a refit at Shipyard No. 194 in mid-1953 and transferred to the ships of the Kronstadt Fortress on 16 June, leading the naval parade up the

Neva River The Neva ( , ; , ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it is the fourth-l ...

for

Navy Day Several nations observe or have observed a Navy Day to recognize their navy. By country Argentina The Argentine Navy day is celebrated on May 17, anniversary of the victory achieved in 1814 against the Spanish fleet in the action of 14 ...

in July. The refit, which began late that year, was planned to include a complete overhaul of her machinery while her radar, fire-control systems and anti-aircraft guns were to be replaced by the latest Soviet systems. Torpedo bulges were to be fitted which would increase her displacement by , with consequent penalties to her speed and range. The navy re-evaluated the scope of the work in 1955 and deemed it insufficient to create a fully modern ship and suspended the refit. ''Maxim Gorky'' was removed from the Baltic Fleet on 17 February 1956 before being similarly removed from the navy list and handed over for scrapping on 18 April 1959Chernyshev and Kulagin, p. 97 after the navy had decided that she was unneeded as a missile-test ship.

Notes

References

* * * * * *

External links

*
Maxim Gorky on navsource.narod.ru (with photos)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxim Gorky Kirov-class cruisers 1938 ships World War II cruisers of the Soviet Union Cold War cruisers of the Soviet Union Ships built at the Baltic Shipyard