First-Class Cruiser "Varyag" 1952 Year 1/350 Scale Decals Print Scale 350-002

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 prior to the Second World War. They were modified to improve their sea keeping capabilities, allowing them to run at high speed in the rough waters of the North Atlantic. The basic hull was more modern and had better armor protection than the vast majority of the post World War II gun cruiser designs built and deployed by peer nations. They also carried an extensive suite of modern radar equipment and anti-aircraft artillery. The Soviets originally planned to build 40 ships in the class, which would be supported by the Stalingrad-class battlecruisers and aircraft carriers.
This class of cruiser satisfied the desire of Stalin, and of the leadership within the Soviet Navy, for a ship that was in keeping with a Naval doctrine focused on three priorities: supporting the defense of the Soviet coastline, operating out of naval bases worldwide, and protecting Arctic, Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea interests. Secondary missions envisioned for this class of ship were commerce raiding, 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 Khrushchev and the Soviet Defense staff, which only grudgingly conceded some cruisers for limited roles as flagships in strategic and tactical naval operations. Within the Soviet Navy, leading Admirals still believed in 1959 that more big cruisers would be useful 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.