they were designed to be the best they
met enemies face to face endured
tragedies and enjoyed victories they
went down in history due to the bravery
of their crews they are the ships that
deserve to be called naval legends
in this episode mikhail kutuzov a
fearless cold war veteran
after the Soviet Union together with its
allies defeated Germany in Japan it
focused all its efforts on
reconstructing the country the respite
was short however due to the looming
Cold War given the economic situation of
the post-war period the first 10 years
shipbuilding program in the Soviet Union
focused on light cruisers this new
generation of warships was expected to
combine the fighting experience gained
during the recent war and the Soviets
post-war achievements in science and
technology below the Soviet Union
started developing new cruisers in 1937
long before World War two the design was
called Project 68 with the outbreak of
World War 2 it was put aside which meant
the products floors did not become
apparent until the end of the war was
later succeeded by project 68k vision
and then in 1947 with technical and
technical requirements were formulated
for the next project sixty-eight bits
project 68-bis cruisers were designed to
cover attacks from fellow destroyers and
torpedo boats protect battleships and
heavy cruisers against enemy destroyers
fire at shore targets and conduct
independent operations in enemy
territory if necessary
this was the most common class of
cruisers in the history of Soviet
shipbuilding 14 project 68 biswell ships
were commissioned in total one of the
cruisers was named after the legendary
military leader Mikhail Illarionovich
Kutuzov commander-in-chief of the
Russian army in the Patriotic War of
1812 against Napoleon
karissa Cruiser Mikhail Kutuzov was laid
down in February 1951 at the Nikolai's
key shipyard and launched in December
1953 flying the red hammer and sickle
flag of the Soviet Union but you first
underwent dog trials and then sea trials
after the ship had accomplished all
special assignments she was commissioned
and joined the Black Sea Fleet August 9
1954 is considered to be the ship's
birthday length 689 feet being 72 feet
total displacement 18,000 360 tons draft
26 feet armor belt - - 4.7 inches
conning-tower 5.1 inches deck 2 inches
primary armament for turrets with three
times MK 5 bisque guns caliber six
inches dual purpose artillery six
turrets with two times SN v 1s guns
caliber three point nine inches 16 times
one point four inch twin anti-aircraft
via Levin machine guns rate of fire 160
to 180 rounds per minute eight times one
point two inch twin anti-aircraft ak2 30
machineguns rate of fire 1,000 rounds
per minute crew 1217 steam turbine plant
- turbo gear units power
125,000 bhp maximal speed 32 knots range
5220 nautical miles at 18 knots primary
armament turrets were mounted for daffy
each turret was operated by a crew of
between 48 and 62 people the turrets
could provide accurate fire at a range
of up to 17 miles with armor-piercing
shells semi armor-piercing shells
high-explosive shells and time-fuse
grenades
so time-fuse grenades was a special
shell used against an targets it was
fired by the primary armament guns
time-fuse grenades destroyed objects
with their sheer weight as well as
splinters that is first after the
explosion the burst area formed an
ellipsoid of 1312 feet by 656 feet this
is how time-fuse grenades worked
dual purpose artillery turrets were
mounted along the sides of the ship
three turrets starboard and three
turrets port 3.9 inch guns were able to
fire on surface and Shore targets but
were primarily designed to engage air
targets each turret was equipped with a
range finding radar helping to determine
target range more accurately each turret
had an average rate of fire of 18 to 20
rounds per minute a mouth on off the
charge man had to be in good physical
shape to keep up with this rate of fire
affordable bong al-assad on it with this
in mind every morning started with a
special drill instead of doing morning
exercises the charge man would go to the
ammunition chamber and throw shells to
one another this was a challenging
workout as each shell weighed 17.5 our
dealer underneath each turret was a bar
bet a room with racks along the walls
where shells were the first shots were
stored vertically see fights were very
Swift so when a call to General Quarters
or General Quarters drill was announced
no time could be wasted waiting for the
ammunition to be transferred from
storage areas for this reason shells for
the first shots were kept right under
the turret 45 to 60 seconds after the
General Quarters drill was announced the
crew got to their assigned stations
these mock idealist four crew members
stayed under the turret Barca minded but
they were ready to feed ammunition from
the rags directly into the turret
chamber on command we we stayed out
there was any but there's no way we're
dealing of some more bust after
modernization the cruiser had 24
anti-aircraft cannons in two calibers
1.2 and 1.5 inch to fight off enemy
aviation the accuracy of fire was
assured by both optical guidance
instruments and special artillery radars
project 68-bis cruisers became the last
pure artillery ships of the Soviet Navy
their design incorporated all the major
technical achievements of the war and
post-war periods they were all outfitted
with the latest radio technical
navigational and communication equipment
in addition the cruisers could sail
autonomously for 30 days with enough
reserves of provisions fuel oil as well
as fresh and technical water to cover a
distance of up to 9,000 miles
the main power plant of Kutuzov included
six principal steam boilers and two main
turbo gear units
the distance between the hires to the
lowest points of the cruiser the top
mast and the keel is 194 feet stop we
Sherman so did you have an idea of the
cruisers height there are five more
levels below us right now we're standing
on the first continuous day it goes from
bow to stern one level down we have the
second continuous day which is armored
the armor is two inches thick
then if you go further down you'll find
three more platforms and finally below
them you'll see tanks holds and the
ship's bottom please by the way the
cruiser has a double ante mine bottom
north
Engineers developed a special
construction technology for the project
sixty-eight bishops allowing for an all
welded hull for the first time in Soviet
shipbuilding armour plates were used
both as protection and as bearing
structure this design increased the
ship's durability and saved weight
allowing for installation of additional
armaments and storage of extra
ammunition
the cruiser is divided into two thousand
five hundred rooms apart from working
spaces mikhail kutuzov also had three
medical cabins for a therapist a surgeon
and a dentist for libraries a cinema
that showed movies on the holidays an
officer's mess hall
and 42 single and double officers cabins
1000 enlisted sailors were accommodated
in 38 crew quarters of different
capacities ranging from 20 to 70 people
epic orbit this particular crew quarters
might be considered high-class why first
of all it's designed for any 27 sailors
and has portholes
Vicco crew quarters with capacities of
40 50 60 and 70 people are located in
the head the midship and the stern they
are one or even two decks below us and
of course they don't have any portholes
Soviet ships built between the end of
World War two and the beginning of the
1960s did not have any space for the
crew mess hall officers had breakfast
lunch and dinner in the officers mess
hall while sailors had their meals in
their quarters the only man on board who
was allowed to eat separately from other
crew members was the ship's captain
it was his privilege he had his meals in
a special saloon with a dedicated pantry
and assigned seaman steward laid the
table there and cooked food according to
captain's orders the rest of the crew
beginning with the executive officer and
ending with rookie sailors at the same
menu the only difference was that
officers ate in the mess hall Midshipmen
ate in the small mess hall and the rest
of the crew had their meals in their
living quarters
the first sea cruise our mikhail kutuzov
wasn't the most difficult in june 1957
the cruiser left Sevastopol and set sail
to Leningrad to help celebrate the 40th
anniversary of the October Revolution
she went through the black and the
Mediterranean Seas into the Atlantic
Ocean and then to the north and the
Baltic seas
the crew had additional orders go to the
Northwest Atlantic find the storm as
powerful as possible and pass through it
to test the ship's endurance and
performance the ship was brand new
they found a mighty storm the cruiser
entered it intentional
your image during the storm she had a
maximalist angle to pour tomorrow
pacifica the ship returned to even-keel
no prowess but the starboard bilge a
solid cast part weighing 20 tons was
torn out like a tooth your broth and
along with the anchor thrown on the day
despite the fact that Mikhail Kutuzov
never fired her guns in a real battle
her service record is far from being
dull
the ship went on 15 long-range sea
cruises and participated in rescuing
sailors from the exploded battleship
Navarro Sisk
the cow Kutuzov performed operational
duties in the Mediterranean Sea and in
the Atlantic during the arab-israeli war
in 1967 and in 1973 the cruiser served
as the command post of the USSR's chief
military advisor in Egypt some other
hygienic rates aeropuerto Alex the mere
presence of the Soviet Cruiser in
Alexandria guaranteed that the port of
the city was safe from air raids and any
other attacks from Israeli Armed Forces
the ship was the filming location for
the movie shore leave
actors live pretty north and vladimir
vysotsky who starred in the movie lived
aboard mikhail kutuzov amongst the rest
of the sailors for several days
the cruiser hosted many political
leaders and paid official visits to
Albania the Republic of Croatia part of
Yugoslavia at the time Romania and
Algeria carry through break project
68-bis cruisers were the foundation the
backbone of the Soviet Navy from the
moment of construction until the
beginning of the 1970s Micahel Kutuzov
proudly showed the colors of the Soviet
Navy in the Mediterranean Sea
in 1988 the cruiser was transferred to
the reserve of the USSR Navy and 10
years later she was decommissioned in
July 2002 Mikhail Kutuzov sailed her
last cruise from Sevastopol to navara
Sisk the cruiser dropped anchor at the
city seafront and began her service as a
museum ship showcasing Russian naval
glory
you