Project 69
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In the project 69 , better known under the name Kronschtadt class , there were two battle cruisers of the Soviet Navy , which however were officially classified only as a heavy cruiser. They were laid down in 1939, but never completed. Work on these ceased when the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union .
history
The Kronschtadt-class battlecruisers go back to demands from the mid-1930s when a search was made for a "large cruiser" whose primary function was to combat enemy 10,000-tonne cruisers that were constructed under the Washington Naval Agreement. The Soviet Union itself was not involved in this agreement and was therefore not subject to its restrictions. When the Soviet Navy rejected numerous drafts at the end of 1935, new requirements began to be formulated, which resulted in Project 22 . Project 22 envisaged a cruiser of the 20,000 to 23,000 t class, which was to carry nine 254 mm cannons in three triple turrets as main armament. In addition, a maximum speed of 34 knots with an effective range of 8,000 nautical miles was planned. Project 22 suffered delays after two constructors were arrested and shot as a result of Stalin's Great Purge . With the conclusion of the British-Soviet fleet agreement of 1937 and the launch of the Scharnhorst class at the end of 1936, the original requirements were now obsolete. The Project 22 cruisers would not have been able to compete with the new German battleships. That is why this program, together with Project 21 , which envisaged the development of a 30,900 t battleship, was canceled and replaced by Project 69.
The new demands to be able to fight the ships of the German Scharnhorst class, the French Dunkerque class and the Japanese Kongō class , led to the new main armament of 305 mm cannons for the project 69. The distribution in three triplet towers was retained . The water displacement increased to 32,500 t. As a result, it was no longer possible to reach the top speed of 34 knots, which is why the requirement was reduced to 32 knots. The requirement for belt armor of 260 mm was also incompatible with the remaining performance data and had to be reduced to 230 mm. For technical reasons, torpedo armament was also dispensed with. On July 10, 1938, the updated design specification was approved. Although the ships had long been the size of battle cruisers and the requirement and operational profile corresponded to this, the classification as heavy cruisers was retained. So it came about that in the five-year plan, the construction of four heavy cruisers for Project 69 was decided between 1938 and 1942.
The Kronschtadt was laid down on November 30, 1939 in the Leningrad shipyard 194. The second ship in the series, the Sevastopol, had already been laid down on November 5 in the shipyard 200. Both ships should be completed in 1943.
The development of the new main armament, the 305 mm L / 55 B-50 cannons in MK-15 triple turrets, caused problems from the start. These guns were based on the 305 mm L / 55 B-36 cannons in MK-2 turrets, which had been designed for the unrealized "light battleships" of Project 25 . To get around these problems, Stalin resorted to the trade agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union. He first asked about the 283 mm L / 54.5 Drh LC / 34 guns, which were also used on the Scharnhorst class. Germany responded to this request by saying that it was possible to install this armament on the Kronschtadt class, but that it was no longer in production. A restart of production is possible. Thereupon Stalin asked about the 380 mm L / 52 Drh LC / 34 armament of the Bismarck . Since Krupp still had six incomplete towers in stock, which were originally intended for the conversion of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau , but could not be carried out due to the outbreak of war, Germany agreed to the sale. On August 1, 1940, it was decided to convert Kronschtadt and Sevastopol to German weapons. The project was then referred to as "69I" or "69-I". The agreement for the delivery of the cannons and fire control systems was signed on November 30th and December 23rd, 1940, with the Krupp and Siemens companies. However, there were no more deliveries before the Wehrmacht attacked the Soviet Union. Work on the two ships was stopped on July 10, 1941. After the end of the war, the remains of both ships were scrapped.
Individual evidence
- ↑ 305 mm / 55 (12 ") B-36 Pattern 1937, 305 mm / 55 (12") B-50 Pattern 1940. NavWeaps, April 16, 2012, accessed July 29, 2018 .