Sverdlov (class)

History

After World War II (1939-1945), the Soviet Union became the undisputed power in the East and entered a "Cold War" (1949-1991) with the West led by the United States. To match the substantial presence of the United States Navy (USN) on the high seas, the country has invested heavily in expanding its surface and submarine fleets.

One of the most important tasks of the former category was the Sverdlov-class cruisers ("Project 68bis"), with about 30 ships planned for construction in 1947. However, several factors ultimately limited the group to 14 ships as 16 planned batches were cancelled or scrapped.

The Soviet and Indonesian navies served the class during their time at sea, but even when they arrived they were more or less anachronistic - a design more akin to a WWII surface fighter. At the time of her service, the Sverdlov class was the last gun-fired ocean cruiser commissioned by the Soviet Navy.

The primary role of these battleships was to protect the vast coastline of the Soviet Empire, operating from the unforgiving North Atlantic to the more temperate Mediterranean environment. Depending on their overall design approach, these warships can provide anti-ship, air defense, escort or raid capabilities.

Moreover, natural deterrence always had the added benefit of European designs that lacked search and track qualitieswhich in turn forced European powers to invest heavily in countermeasures against the formidable Soviet surface and underwater fleets.

However, even during the construction period, due to the rise of missile technology, the value of "full gun" warships continued to decline and the cruiser warship type was in nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. Stalin's death in 1953 provided some flexibility for the new Soviet authorities and it was decided to stop building the additional hull in 1954 after the fourteenth keel was laid.

At least four battleships that have been launched for testing are partially completed, and two other hulls are completely scrapped before the light of day. In order to maintain the viability of the other members of the group for the foreseeable future, several modernization works have been carried out to enable them to remain in service into the 1970s.

Today, Mikhail Kutuzov is the only remaining existence of the class, floating in the waters of Novorossiysk as a surviving museum ship.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Wing