Sverdlov class
Sverdlov-class cruiser Admiral Ushakov in 1981
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| Class overview | |
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| Name: | Sverdlov class |
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| Operators: | |
| Preceded by: | Chapayev class |
| Succeeded by: | Kynda class |
| Planned: | 30 |
| Completed: | 14 |
| Cancelled: | 16 |
| Retired: | 13 |
| Preserved: | 1 (Mikhail Kutuzov) |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Cruiser |
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| Length: |
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| Beam: | 22 m (72 ft 2 in) |
| Draught: | 6.9 m (22 ft 8 in) |
| Installed power: | 6 boilers, 118,100 shp (88,100 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft geared steam turbines |
| Speed: | 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) |
| Range: | 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Complement: | 1,250 |
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| Armour: |
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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 Russian, German, and Italian designs and concepts developed prior to the Second World War. They were modified to improve their sea keeping capabilities, allowing them to run at high speed in the rough waters of the North Atlantic. The basic hull was more modern and had better armor protection than vast majority of the post World War Two gun cruiser designs built and deployed by peer nations. They also carried an extensive suite of modern radar equipment and anti-aircraft artillery. The Soviets originally planned to build 40 ships in the class, which would be supported by the Stalingrad-class battlecruisers and aircraft carriers.
This class of cruiser satisfied Stalin's and Soviet Navy leadership's desire to create a ship that was in keeping with a Soviet Naval doctrine focused on supporting the defense of the Russian coastline, operating out of naval bases worldwide and protecting Arctic, Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea interests. A secondary commerce raiding and political presence mission in the third world was also envisioned for this class of ship. They were considered obsolete by Soviet Premier Khrushchev and Soviet Defence staff for the missile age in which defensive and anti submarine resources were the priority and only grudgingly conceded to allowing some cruisers for limited roles as flagships in strategic and tactical naval operations. Within the Soviet Navy, leading Admirals still believed in 1959 that more big cruisers would be useful in the sort of operations planned in Cuba and support of Indonesia. And the Sverdlovs were a threat to the British and Dutch Navies which lacked 24 hour day night, carrier capability before satellite surveillance.
The big ship threat was a real and useful in justifying conventional fleet and carrier construction to the Royal Navy, especially in the North Atlantic. Britain responded by introducing 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 5km lethal range of the Russian 100mm/37m gun. When the building program was cut back and the battlecruisers and carriers were cancelled, the Sverdlovs 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 the remaining Baltimore and Des Moines-class cruisers equipped with 8 inch guns. The Royal Navy's last, Colony and Tiger class gun cruisers,and the USN's Gearing and Forrest Sherman class destroyers, lacked armour and range and speed required to counter the Sverdlov.
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