Chapayev-class cruiser
1950s class of light cruisers of the Soviet Navy
The Chapayev class (Project 68 Чапаев) were a group of cruisers built for the Soviet Navy during and after World War II. Seventeen ships were planned in total, but only seven were actually started before the German invasion. Two incomplete ships were destroyed when their building yard in Nikolaev was captured by Nazi Germany and the remaining five cruisers were completed only in 1950, with the last ship serving until 1981.
Design
As part of Stalin's 1936 "Big Fleet Programme", many light cruisers were to be built over the next ten years. Project 26 Kirov-class cruisers were planned to be constructed, but their armour and AA were considered inadequate. In August 1936, a new cruiser design similar to Kirov-class cruisers named Project 28 resolved these issues. They were to form the backbone of light forces flotillas with additional tasks including offensive minelaying, commerce raiding, and battleship screening against enemy light forces. The 3 triple 180 mm (7.1 in) gun turrets on the Kirovs were changed to 4 triple 152 mm (6.0 in) gun turrets, offering a higher rate of fire. On 29 October 1937, the navy changed its requirements to 3 triple 152 mm (6.0 in) guns and redesignated it as Project 68 before being reverted in March 1938.
The final design was approved in July 1939 and five ships were ordered. Seven ships were under construction by June 1941.
“Chapayev-class cruiser” enters the record as 1950s class of light cruisers of the Soviet Navy. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Chapayev-class, cruiser and 1950s can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chapayev-class cruiser” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.