Stalingrad Class Battlecruiser

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The Stalingrad Class (Project 82) were a group of battlecruisers planned for the Soviet Navy after World War II. According to Admiral Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov, Stalin had a difficult to explain passion for battlecruisers and drove this project onwards against the opinion of professional naval officers, who considered these ships obsolete. The ships were cancelled after Stalin's death in 1953. The Role of the ships would have been to attack Western warships invading Soviet waters rather than commerce raiding. Soviet Admirals were doubtful that the ships would survive against American carrier based aircraft. The design was based on the pre war Kronshtadt class battlecruiser but had substantial changes. The American Alaska class cruiser were comparable ships.

[edit] General Characteristics

Displacement: 36,500 tons standard, 42,300 tons full load
Length: 273.6 m
Beam: 32 m
Draught: 9.2 m
Machinery: 4 shaft steam turbines, 12 boilers, 280,000 hp
Speed: 35.4 knots
Range: 5000 nm at 18 knots
Armament:
- 9 - 12 inch (305 mm) guns, 3 twin turrets
- 12 - 130mm guns , 6 twin turrets
- 24 - 45 mm guns (6x4)
- 40 - 25mm guns (10 x4)
Armour: 180 mm belt, 240 mm turrets, 235 mm barbetes, 25 mm secondary turrets, 50mm upper deck, 70 mm middle deck, 260 mm conning tower
Crew: 1712

[edit] Ships

Stalingrad - built by Marti Yard Nikolayev. The ship was 18.8 % complete at cancellation, The central portion of the hull was launched and used as a target, The hulk was grounded outside Sevastopol in 1954 and re-floated in 1956. Used as a target for guns, bombs and missiles, scrapped in 1962
Moskva - built by Baltic Works, Leningrad. The ship was 7.5 % complete at cancellation and scrapped on the slipway.
no 3 (Kronshtadt??) - built by Yard 402, Severodvinsk. The ship was 2.5 % complete at cancellation and was scrapped on the slipway

The programme was delayed by constant design changes by Stalin