[Applause]
in early 1951 at a meeting with the
Soviet naval command Stalin said the US
Navy is phasing in new heavy cruisers of
the Soviet Union is building only light
once with 152 millimeter primary
armament which won't be able to counter
the American ships at the same time
using the Stalingrad class heavy
cruisers with their 305 millimeter gun
against des moines-class cruisers with
203 millimeter primary armament is not
reasonable it's like using a cannon to
shoot a fly as a result a decision was
taken to immediately start building a
national fleet of medium cruisers
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[Applause]
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the new ship was designated as project
66 the same year a newly appointed
Soviet naval minister
Vice Admiral Kuznetsov approved the
operational requirements of this ship
her primary purpose was to successfully
resist heavy cruisers and sink light
once the ship was also intended to
destroy coastal targets and support the
Navy's light forces an important
requirement was the maximum unification
of her mechanisms and armaments and that
she even share her silhouette with the
Stalingrad class cruisers which were
under construction at the time
the cruisers main battery was to
comprise nine 220 millimeter guns placed
in three turrets the dual purpose
battery consisted of eight 130
millimeter guns in four turrets
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the anti-aircraft armament had 645
millimeter and 625 millimeter quadruple
autocannons the ship's maximum length
was 250 two and a half meters the beam
was about 26 meters total displacement
was thirty thousand seven hundred fifty
tons
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armored main armor belt 155 millimeter
upper armored deck 50 millimeter middle
armored deck 70 millimeter magazines up
to 90 millimeter the torpedo protection
was to sustain an explosion equivalent
to 250 kilograms of TNT
the main power plant produced 210
thousand horsepower maximum speed thirty
four and a half knots cruising range
five thousand miles at 18 knots crew
1428 people
victory in the naval part of World War
two was achieved by the Western Allies
mainly thanks to aircraft carriers
battleships and cruisers became a combat
support element for carrier groups and a
fire support asset for ground forces
nevertheless the Soviet military and
political leadership didn't fully
realize this and continue to view heavy
artillery ships as a key naval strike
force the Soviet Navy was far behind its
US and British counterparts who were now
its former allies new ships were
required and the project 66 cruisers
were to serve as such in August 1953 the
central design bureau number 17
completed the ship's schematic design
but in March after Stalin had passed
away the Soviet government changed its
plans for military shipbuilding the
country stopped constructing heavy
cruisers and designing a new battleship
the medium cruiser became the largest
combat ship for the Soviet Navy the lead
project 66 ship was to be laid down at
the baltic shipyard in leningrad serial
ships of the class were to be built in
nikolai a--
Mollet ops now seven of the vince and at
a new large shipyard restored especially
for this purpose in soviet sky atthe
gavin however the first Cruiser of the
class could be commissioned only in the
second half of 1958 during the tactical
assessment of project 66 our combat
capability was matched with that of the
des moines-class heavy cruiser developed
and tested in 1954 the 220 millimeter
gun for the sm6 turret had almost
doubled the range of the American 203
millimeter mark 16 gun 50 kilometers
against 27.8 but the automated main
battery
of Des Moines at about twice the rate of
fire in terms of other key combat
characteristics the two ships were also
of about equal strength
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in February 1954 the Naval Academy in
Leningrad held a tactical game involving
project 66 in Des Moines as a result a
conclusion was made that the Soviet
cruisers excessive displacement was
inadequate for her combat capability
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throughout the year until late September
1954 minister of shipbuilding yvonne
nauseum cot was debating with commander
of the Navy
Nicolay Kuznetsov and Defense Minister
Nikolai Bulganin whether it was
reasonable to build the project 66
cruisers the military believed these
ships would be effective against des
moines-class cruisers in the life by
having the advantage in firepower deck
armor maximum speed torpedo protection
survivability and unsinkable 'ti on the
other hand people from the industry were
saying that this ship which cost as much
as three project 68-bis see a total of
class like cruisers was too expensive
but still lacked reliable protection
from the rapidly developing naval
missile systems
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as a result Soviet leadership agreed
with the shipbuilders and the medium
Cruiser project was closed
add the project 66 cruisers been
completed they could have escorted
carrier battle groups which were to be
formed from 1956 through 1965 but times
changed and project 66 went down in
history as the last design for a large
artillery ship developed in the Soviet
Union and probably the whole world
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