 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2013) |
 Admiral Ushakov in 1981
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sverdlov class |
| Builders | |
| Operators | |
| Preceded by | Chapayev class |
| Succeeded by | Kynda class |
| Built | 1948–1959 |
| In commission | 1952–1992 |
| Planned | 30 |
| Completed | 14 |
| Cancelled | 16 |
| Retired | 13 |
| Preserved | |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cruiser |
| Displacement |
|
| Length |
|
| Beam | 22 m (72 ft 2 in) |
| Draught | 6.9 m (22 ft 8 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) |
| Range | 9,000 nmi (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Complement | 1,250 |
| Armament | |
| Armor |
|
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. The Soviets originally planned to build 40 ships in the class, to be supported by the Stalingrad-class battlecruisers and various aircraft carriers.
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[1] 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 Sverdlovs were also a threat to the British and Dutch navies, which lacked 24-hour day/night carrier capability before satellite surveillance.[citation needed]
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.[2] 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 100 mm (3.9 in) and 37 mm (1.5 in) guns. 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 Baltimore- and Des Moines-class cruisers equipped with 8-inch guns. The Royal Navy's last Fiji- and Tiger-class gun cruisers, and the USN's Gearing- and Forrest Sherman-class destroyers, lacked the armour, range[3] and speed required to counter the Sverdlovs.
In 1954 Sverdlov class construction was cancelled by Khrushchev after 14 hulls had been completed. Two additional hulls were scrapped on the slip, and four partially complete Sverdlovs 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.
- ^ Clarke, Alex (12 May 2014). "Sverdlov Class Cruisers, and the Royal Navy's Response". Global Maritime History. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
- ^ Gibson, Chris (2015). Nimrod's Genesis. Hikoki Publications. pp. 17, 41–42. ISBN 978-190210947-3.
- ^ D.K Brown. ''Rebuilding the RN. Warship Design since 1945''. Seaforth (2012), p 48 & A. Clarke. "Sverdlov Cruisers and the RN Response". British Naval History, 12-5-2015