Soviet cruiser Kalinin
Encyclopedia
Kalinin was a Project 26bis2 of the Soviet Navy
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
that was built during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She was built in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
from components shipped from European Russia. She saw no action during the war and served into the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Her post-war career was uneventful until she was disarmed and converted into a floating barracks in 1960. She was sold for scrap in 1963.
Description
Kalinin was 187 metre long at the waterline, and 191.2 metre long overall. She had a beamBeam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 17.66 metre and had a draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
between 5.88 metre. Kalinin displaced 8400 tonnes (8,267 LT) at standard load and 10040 tonnes (9,881 LT) at full load. Her geared steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s produced a total of 126900 shp on trials, but she fell somewhat short of her designed speed of 37 knots (20.1 m/s), only reaching 36 knots (19.6 m/s) on trials, because she was over 1200 tonnes (1,181 LT) overweight. The ship normally carried 650 tonnes (640 LT) of fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
, 1660 tonnes (1,634 LT) at full load and 1750 tonnes (1,722 LT) at overload. This gave her an endurance of 5590 nautical mile at 18 knots (9.8 m/s) with overload fuel.
Kalinin carried nine 180 mm (7.1 in) 57-caliber
Caliber (artillery)
In artillery, caliber or calibredifference in British English and American English spelling is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or by extension a relative measure of the length....
B-1-P guns in three electrically powered MK-3-180 triple turrets. The turrets were very small; they were designed to fit into the limited hull space available and were so cramped that their rate of fire was much lower than designed—only two rounds per minute instead of six. The guns were mounted in a single cradle to minimize space and were so close together that their shot dispersion was very high because the muzzle blast from adjacent barrels affected each gun. Unlike her half-sisters built in European Russia, her secondary armament initially consisted of eight single 76.2 mm (3 in) 55-caliber 34-K anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
(AA) guns mounted on each side of the rear funnel because the 100 mm (3.9 in) B-34 guns originally intended to be used had run into production problems. The 34-K guns were a stop-gap until the Army 85 mm (3.3 in) 52-K anti-aircraft gun could be mated with the mount of the 34-K and put into production as the 90-K. They replaced the 34-K guns in May 1943. Light AA guns initially consisted of six semi-automatic 45 mm (1.8 in) 21-K
45 mm anti-aircraft gun (21-K)
The 45 mm anti-aircraft gun was a Soviet design adapted from the 45 mm anti-tank gun M1937 . This was a copy of a German weapon designed by Rheinmetall that was sold to the Soviets before Hitler came to power in 1933 that had been enlarged to in increase its penetrating power...
AA guns with 600 rounds per gun, ten fully automatic 37 mm (1.5 in) 70-K AA guns with a thousand rounds per gun, and six DK
DShK
The DShK 1938 is a Soviet heavy machine gun firing the 12.7x108mm cartridge. The weapon was also used as a heavy infantry machine gun, in which case it was frequently deployed with a two-wheeled mounting and a single-sheet armour-plate shield...
12.7 mm (0.5 in) machine guns with 12,500 rounds per gun, but were significantly increased during the war. By 1945 Kalinin had exchanged her 45 mm guns for nine additional 70-K AA guns. By 1957 her light anti-aircraft armament consisted of only nine powered 37 mm V-11 mounts.
Six 533 millimetres (21 in) 39-Yu torpedo tubes were fitted in two triple mountings, one on each side. She received the Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...
ASDIC-132 sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
system, which the Soviets called Drakon-132, as well as the experimental Soviet Mars-72 system.
As built Kalinin lacked any radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
s, but by 1944 she was equipped with British and American Lend-Lease radars as well as Soviet-designed systems. A British Type 291 and an American SG radar were used for air search. Two Soviet Yupiter-1 radars were used for main battery fire control while anti-aircraft fire control was provided by two British Type 282 radars.
Service
Kalinin was one of the Project 26bis2 cruisers, the third pair of the s. She was larger and had a more powerful anti-aircraft armament than her half-sisters. She was assembled at the newly constructed Shipyard 199, Komsomolsk-on-AmurKomsomolsk-on-Amur
Komsomolsk-on-Amur is a city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, situated on the left bank of Amur River. It is located on the BAM railway line, northeast of Khabarovsk. Population: -Geography and climate:...
, from components built at the Shipyard 198 (Marti South)
Black Sea Shipyard
The Black Sea Shipyard is located in Mykolaiv, Ukraine and is the largest shipyard with near direct access to the Black Sea. It is most often referred to as the Nikolayev South Shipyard and was known as Soviet Shipyard No...
in Nikolayev
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv , also known as Nikolayev , is a city in southern Ukraine, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is the main ship building center of the Black Sea, and, arguably, the whole Eastern Europe.-Name of city:...
. She was laid down on 12 August 1938, launched from drydock on 8 May 1942 and was completed on 31 December 1942 after being towed down the Amur River to Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
. Her construction was prolonged by late deliveries from western factories. For example her propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
s had to be shipped from Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
after it had been surrounded by the Germans and her propeller shafts had to be removed from the Barrikada factory in Stalingrad in 1942 before it was destroyed by the Germans.
She was commissioned into the Pacific Fleet in 1943. She was ordered to prepare for transfer to the Soviet Northern Fleet via the Northern Sea Route
Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane officially defined by Russian legislation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from Murmansk on the Barents Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait and Far East. The entire route lies in Arctic...
on 24 April 1943 and extensive preparations were made for the voyage. They included the installation of special propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
s with removable blades and the strengthening of her hull to withstand ice pressure. The transfer was canceled without explanation on 1 June 1943, but the alterations remained in place until 1944. She remained inactive during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945.
Kalinin hosted the State Commissariat for Defence (—NKO) during their visit to the Pacific Fleet in October 1954 and demonstrated her main guns while they were aboard. She spent the post-war period on routine training missions until she was placed in reserve on 1 May 1956. She was reactivated on 1 December 1957 before being disarmed and converted into floating barracks PKZ-21 on 6 February 1960. Kalinin was finally sold for scrap on 12 April 1963.