Sverdlov-class cruiser

The ''Sverdlov''-class cruisers, Soviet designation Project 68bis, were the last conventional gun cruisers built for the Soviet Navy. They were built in the 1950s and were based on Soviet, German, and Italian designs and concepts developed before the Second World War. They were modified to improve their sea capabilities, allowing them to operate at high speeds in the rough waters of the North Atlantic. The design carried an extensive suite of modern radar equipment and anti-aircraft artillery, which made an approach by existing aircraft within extremely dangerous.

The ''Sverdlov'' design was part of a post-WWII fleet concept that also included the s and aircraft carriers that would transform the Soviet Navy into one able to field a first-class fleet for deep water operations. The entire concept was considered obsolete by anyone outside the Soviet Navy, but it retained the support of Joseph Stalin and construction program continued to move forward. The ''Sverdlov'' was launched in July 1950, by which time a large number of sister ships were under construction, followed by the ''Stalingrad''s construction beginning in November 1951.

The introduction of the ''Sverdlov''s was cause for great concern in the Royal Navy. They were faced with the Soviets deploying a large fleet of modern ships against their northern units, possibly overwhelming them. This produced the "Sverdlov Crisis" as various solutions to the problem were proposed. In the short term, the RN retained several big-gun ships like HMS ''Vanguard'', but the long term solution was to develop new weapons. This ultimately emerged as the Blackburn Buccaneer, a carrier-based strike aircraft that had the performance required to approach and attack ''Sverdlov''-class ships at ultra-low level.

The fleet concept had never been widely supported in the Soviet Union, and ended abruptly with Stalin's death in 1953. By this time fourteen of the planned forty ships in the class had been completed. Two additional hulls were scrapped on the slip, and four partially complete ships launched in 1954 were scrapped in 1959. ''Sverdlov'' class ships remained in service through the 1970s, during which 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 as a museum ship.

Design concept

Stalin, along with the leadership of the Soviet Navy, wanted a ship that followed a naval doctrine focused on three priorities:
* supporting the defense of the Soviet coastline,
* operating out of naval bases worldwide, and
* protecting Soviet 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 Nikita Khrushchev and the General Staff, who grudgingly conceded only some cruisers for limited roles as flagships in strategic and tactical naval operations. Within the Soviet Navy in 1959, leading admirals still believed that more big cruisers would be helpful in the sort of operations planned in Cuba and in support of Indonesia.

The big ship threat to the Royal Navy was useful to it in justifying maintaining a conventional fleet of warships and aircraft carriers, especially for use in the North Atlantic. The response was to introduce the Blackburn Buccaneer, a carrier-based strike aircraft that had the performance required to approach and attack ''Sverdlov''-class ships at ultra-low level, using toss bombing attacks to deliver nuclear ordnance, while remaining outside the 5 km effective range of the Soviet and 37 mm (1.5 in) guns. Additionally, the threat of these Soviet cruisers led the Royal Navy to keep its last battleship, HMS ''Vanguard'', in commission until 1960, with the four ''King George V''-class battleships kept in reserve until 1956 for similar reasons, as these five battleships were considered a surefire stopgap that would neutralise the threat of Soviet cruisers should aircraft prove insufficient in the frequently cloudy and stormy weather and long periods of seasonal darkness of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

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, 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 the armour, range and speed required to counter the ''Sverdlovs.''

History

At the end of the Second World War, Joseph Stalin planned a major modernization and expansion of the Soviet Navy to turn it into a global blue-water navy. Large numbers of cruisers were required to escort heavier ships and leading destroyers.Gardiner and Chumbley, pp. 340–341. To speed up production, it was decided to build an improved version of the pre-war (Project 68), the ''Sverdlov'' (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. 379Jarovoj and Greger, pp. 154–155 Some sources state that 30 ''Sverdlov''s were initially planned, with the order being cut by five in favor 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 canceled ships of the ''Chapayev'' class. Following the death of Stalin in 1953, this order was cut to 21. Once the first 15 hulls were laid down, the Soviet Navy decided that the remaining six ships would be completed to a modified design (Project 68zif) with provisions for protection against nuclear fallout, but none was 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 canceled in 1959. Incomplete ships except ''Admiral Kornilov'' (which became a hulk) were scrapped by 1961.

Reductions in cruiser force levels were 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 benefit as naval gunfire support platforms.

The standard Soviet practice was to pass the cruisers in and out of reserve status. Most were relegated to reserve status by the early 1980s.

Design

The ''Sverdlov''-class cruisers were improved and slightly enlarged versions of the ''Chapayev'' class. They had the same main armament, machinery, and side protection as the earlier ships. Improvements included increased fuel capacity for more range, an all-welded hull, improved underwater security, and 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 and long at the waterline. They had a beam of and draft 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 bulkheads. The ''Sverdlov''s had six boilers providing steam to two geared steam turbines 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 caliber 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 tubes in two mountings of five each.

The ''Sverdlov''s had belt armor and had a armored deck. The turrets were shielded by armor and the conning tower 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, torpedo tubes were removed from all ships of the class. In 1957 the ''Admiral Nakhimov'' had a KSShch (NATO reporting name: SS-N-1 "Scrubber") anti-ship missile launcher installed to replace "A" and "B" turrets. The modification was designated Project 68ER. This trial installation was unsuccessful, and the ship was decommissioned and used as a target ship in 1961.

''Dzerzhinsky'' had a surface-to-air missile (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 ships in 1971 by replacing the "X" turret with extra accommodation and electronics, four twin 30 mm AK-230 guns, and a 4K33 "Osa-M" (SA-N-4 "Gecko") 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 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

References

Citations

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Sources

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External links

Article in the Russian language


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{{Soviet and Russian ships after 1945

Cruiser classes