Svetlana-class cruiser
 |
| Class overview |
| Name: |
Svetlana class |
| Operators: |
 Soviet Navy |
| Succeeded by: |
Admiral Nakhimov class |
|
In commission: |
21 March 1927 - 1958 |
| Completed: |
5 (3 completed as cruisers) |
| Cancelled: |
3 |
| Lost: |
1 |
| Scrapped: |
4 |
| General characteristics (as designed) |
| Type: |
Light cruiser |
| Displacement: |
- 6,800 tons (standard)
- 7,400 tons (full load)
|
| Length: |
158.4 m (519 ft 8 in) overall |
| Beam: |
15.35 m (50 ft 4 in) |
| Draft: |
5.7 m (18 ft 8 in) |
| Installed power: |
50,000 shp (37,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
16 Yarrow oil boilers, 4 Parsons turbines, |
| Speed: |
29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph) |
| Range: |
1,490 nmi (2,760 km; 1,710 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Complement: |
878 |
| Armament: |
- 15×130 mm/55 guns
- 4×64 mm anti-aircraft guns
- 4 × machine guns
- 2×450 mm torpedo launchers
|
| Armor: |
|
The Svetlana-class cruiser was the first and only class of light cruisers built for the Imperial Russian Navy. Eight were laid down as part of the 1912–16 shipbuilding program. They were intended to act as scouts for Gangut and Imperatritsa Mariya-class dreadnoughts and to lead destroyer flotillas.
Construction was interrupted by World War I, the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War. Three ships were completed by the Soviet Union as cruisers, two were converted to oil tankers, and the remaining three were scrapped.
Original program
Svetlana, the first true light cruiser of the Imperial Russian Navy, was largely based on pre-war cruiser designs. Six of 15 guns were placed in casemates. Despite good experience with 152 mm Canet guns, navy standard since 1892,[1] Svetlana employed smaller 130 mm/55 B7 Pattern 1913 guns.[2]
The concept was formulated in 1912 by Alexei Krylov. The hull was designed by Colonel Sasinovsky and refined by John Brown and Company shipyards in Clydebank who ran a series of scale model tests. The superstructure was initially designed to resemble both Gangut-class battleships and Derzky-class destroyers; tripod masts with raised rangefinders were added in 1920s. Specifications were continuously changed throughout World War I, adding two flying boats, roll dampers etc.
| Original name |
In Soviet service |
Laid down[3] |
Launched[3] |
Commissioned[3] |
Fate[3] |
| Baltic Fleet Group |
| Svetlana, Светлана |
Profintern, Krasnyi Krym, Профинтерн, Красный Крым |
11.11.1913 |
28.11.1915 |
01.07.1928 |
Converted to a blockship 18.03.1958, scrapped 1959 |
| Admiral Butakov, Адмирал Бутаков |
|
23.07.1916 |
1917 |
|
Cancelled, scrapped in early 1950s |
| Admiral Spiridov, Адмирал Спиридов |
Completed as tanker Grozneft |
16.11.1913 |
27.08.1916 |
1926 |
1941 |
| Admiral Greig, Адмирал Грейг |
Completed as tanker Azneft |
24.11.1913 |
26.11.1916 |
1926 |
Beached by a storm and broke in two 23.12.1937 in Tuapse harbor, scrapped. |
Notes
References
- Breyer, Siegfried (1992). Soviet Warship Development: Volume 1: 1917-1937. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-604-3.
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906-1922. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- Watts, Anthony J. (1990). The Imperial Russian Navy. London: Arms and Armour. ISBN 0-85368-912-1.
- Whitley, M. J. (1995). Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell. ISBN 1-86019-874-0.
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- Svetlana
- Admiral Spiridov
- Admiral Greig
- Admiral ButakovX
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- T
- Converted to tanker
- X
- Cancelled
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- List of cruisers of the Imperial Russian Navy
- List of cruisers of the Soviet Navy
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