Kirov-class cruiser

Kirov in 1941
Class overview
NameKirov class
Builders
Operators Soviet Navy
Preceded byAdmiral Nakhimov class
Succeeded byChapayev class
Subclasses
  • Project 26
  • Project 26bis
  • Project 26bis2
Built1935–1944
In service1938–1970
Completed6
Retired6
General characteristics (Project 26)
TypeCruiser
Displacement
Length191.3 m (627 ft 7 in)
Beam17.66 m (57 ft 11 in)
Draught6.15 m (20 ft 2 in) (full load)
Installed power
Propulsion2 shafts, 2 geared steam turbines
Speed36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Endurance3,750 nmi (6,940 km; 4,320 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement872
Sensors and
processing systems
Arktur underwater acoustic communication system
Armament
Armour
Aircraft carried2 × KOR-1 seaplanes
Aviation facilities1 Heinkel K-12 catapult

The Kirov-class (Project 26) cruisers were a class of six cruisers built in the late 1930s for the Soviet Navy. After the first two ships, armor protection was increased and subsequent ships are sometimes called the Maxim Gorky class. These were the first large ships built by the Soviets from the keel up after the Russian Civil War, and they were derived from the Italian cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli, being designed with assistance from the Italian Ansaldo company. Two ships each were deployed in the Black and Baltic Seas during World War II, while the last pair was still under construction in the Russian Far East and saw no combat during the war. The first four ships bombarded Axis troops and facilities after the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. All six ships survived the war and lingered in training and other secondary roles, with three being scrapped in the early 1960s and the other three a decade later.