Brief Operational History

The Sverdlov cruiser was the first of the post-war cruisers.  They replaced the Chapayev class cruisers that were designed before the Second World War, but only completed at the end of the war.  Unfortunately the ship was merely a modernized version of the gun armed ships of the pre war period.  It did not take into account the devastating effects of air power, guided missiles, or nuclear weapons.  The ship was also very costly.  Still, it fit both Stalin's and Admiral Kuznetsov's ideas of a powerful surface fleet.  Twenty ships of the class were planned.

That all changed with Stalin's death in 1953.  Nikita Khrushchev believed that it was a relic of the way wars used to be fought and would not survive in a modern naval battle.  Admiral Kuznetsov fought vigorously for the project and other similar ones, but was dismissed in favor of Admiral Gorshkov who shared Khrushchev's ideas.  The program faced severe cut backs.  Only 17 of the ships were ever launched and of those only 14 were completed between 1951 and 1955.

Many attempts to modernize these ships were attempted.  In the late 1950's the Dzerzhinski was converted into an experimental anti-aircraft cruiser with twin SA-2 'Guideline' missiles in place of the X turret.  This was ultimately unsuccessful and no other ships were converted in this manner.  It was kept in reserve in the Black Sea until it was decommissioned.

The Admiral Nakhimov was also selected around 1960 to be a test vessel for SS-N-1 'Scrubber' anti-shipping missiles.  This conversion was also unsuccessful and the ship was decommissioned in 1961 without ever leaving Soviet waters.  In 1962 the Ordzhonikidze was transferred to Indonesia (where it was renamed the Irian).  This vessel was later scrapped in Taiwan in 1972 due to a chronic lack of spare parts to maintain the ship.

In 1971 two other ships (the Admiral Senyavin and Zhadanov) were converted into command cruisers (called Korabl Upravleuiye or KU).  These ships were to manage special deployments with the Pacific Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet.  Three of the ships underwent refits between 1977 and 1979 (the Suverov and Oktoberskya Revolutsia being two of them).

The Aleksandr Nevsky and Murmansk were allocated to the Northern Fleet; the Aleksandr Suvorov, and Dmitri Pozharsky were with the Pacific Fleet with the Admiral Lazarev in the reserve.  In the Baltic Fleet two ships remain, the Oktobrskya Revolutsia and the Sverdlov (in reserve).   The Black Sea fleet operates the remaining two (the Admiral Ushakov and Mikhail Kutuzov).

As of 1980 there were a total of 12 Sverdlov class ships in service, but by 2000 all of these graceful ships had been withdrawn from service marking the end of the gun-only surface warship.  The last to be stricken from the fleet lists was the Murmansk in 1992.

Tactical Use and Limitations

Overall the ship was obsolete when it was launched.  The original use of the Sverdlov was as a surface warship, but the days of surface warfare with guns had passed.  Attack aircraft used during the second world war showed the new direction of naval warfare.  Attempts were made to refit the ships with anti-aircraft missiles, but these were only partially successful.

The secondary use of the Sverdlov class was as a shore bombardment ship where its powerful gun armament could be used it good effect.

Deployment Chronology

The Sverdlov was the only post-war cruiser project to survive the cut backs of the Khrushchev administration.  It replaced the 'Chapayev' cruisers of pre-war design.  It was the last of the pure gun armed cruisers and was replaced in front line service by the newer Kynda guided missile cruisers.  Despite this, the Sverdlov continued to serve until the early 1990's when they were finally retired.

Sources Cited

Here are some of the most informative sources that we have used in compiling this information for you.  We hope you can find them as useful as we have.

• The Illustrated Directory of Warships from 1860 to the Present, by David Miller, published by Motorbooks International, Osceola, WI, 2001

• The Encyclopedia of World Sea Power, Edited by Chris Bishop, published by Crescent Books, New York, 1988

• Russian Military Power, Edited by Ray Bonds, published by Bonanza Books, New York, 1982