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 Stalingrads construction beginning in November 1951.
The introduction of the Sverdlovs 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.
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 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 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 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. To speed up production, it was decided to build an improved version of the pre-war, the Sverdlov instead of a wholly new design. The design for the Sverdlov class was formally approved on 27 May 1947. Some sources state that 30 Sverdlovs were initially planned, with the order being cut by five in favor of the threeReductions 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 Sverdlovs 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 Sverdlovs 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 Sverdlovs 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 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, which replaced the third or "X" main gun turret in 1960–62, with the designation Project 70E. 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, was liquid-fueled, 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" 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.