Khrushchev's first intervention in the country's military affairs dates back to 1954. Returning from a trip to China, the First Secretary inspected the fleet and came to the disappointing conclusion that the Soviet Navy was not capable of openly confronting the fleets of England and the United States.
Returning to Moscow, N. S. Khrushchev rejected the concept of building a surface navy, proposed by Admiral N. G. Kuznetsov in a memo dated March 31, 1954, which generally continued the Stalinist shipbuilding program.
Further events developed rapidly.
By the decree of the Central Committee of the TsPSS and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of December 8, 1955, Nikolai Sergeevich Kuznetsov was removed from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. From that moment on, the USSR chose to focus on the submarine fleet, the construction of surface ships was suspended, and almost ready-made cruisers began to be cut on the stocks.
On February 13, 1956, on the initiative of Khrushchev, another resolution was adopted "On the unsatisfactory state of affairs in the Navy", which condemned the low combat readiness of the fleets and made N. G. Kuznetsov.
The bitter was 1956.
In January, the Porkkala-Udd naval base - "a pistol at the temple of Finland", ceased to exist. 100 sq. kilometers of Finnish territory, leased to the USSR in 1944 on a voluntary-compulsory basis for a period of 50 years. The unique position, from where the entire Gulf of Finland was shot through, was stupidly surrendered to the Finns under the pretext of "improving relations with Helsinki."
In May, on the initiative of N. S. Khrushchev and Marshal G. K. Zhukov, the Marine Corps units were disbanded. The only Vyborg Naval School in the country, which trained officers for "black jackets", was closed.
A new blow overtook the navy in 1959. That year, seven (!) Practically finished cruisers were sent for scrap at once:
- "Shcherbakov" was removed from construction when ready 80.6%;
- "Admiral Kornilov" was removed from construction when 70.1% is ready;
- "Kronstadt" was removed from construction when ready 84.2%;
- “Tallinn” was removed from construction when 70.3% is ready;
- "Varyag" is removed from construction when 40% is ready;
- "Arkhangelsk" was removed from construction when ready 68.1%;
- "Vladivostok" was removed from construction when ready 28.8%.
Gripped by "missile euphoria", the Soviet leadership considered the Project 68-bis artillery cruisers to be hopelessly outdated weapons.
The compartment of the unfinished building of the TKR pr. 82, used as a target. It was not possible to sink it with missiles! A similar story happened with the Stalingrad-class heavy cruisers (Project 82), which can be classified as real battleships. According to the project, the total displacement of the "Stalingrad" reached 43 thousand tons. The length of the gigantic ship was 250 meters. The crew, according to the project, is 1500 people. The main caliber is 305 mm.
Just a month after the death of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, three whoppers were removed from the stocks and cut into metal. "Stalingrad" was on readiness 18%. "Moscow" - 7.5%. The third corps, which remained unnamed, had a readiness of 2.5%.
Three battleships and seven cruisers were scrapped.
If it were not for the other 14 cruisers of the project 68-bis from the "Stalinist reserve", which the "reformers" could not reach, I am afraid that by the end of the 50s our fleet could be left without a corresponding surface component at all, completely submerged under water.
Project 627A multipurpose nuclear submarine (November, according to NATO classification). In total, in the period from 1957 to 1963. 13 submarines of this project entered service
Fortunately, the corn lover didn't have the guts to touch the submarine fleet. By the beginning of the Cuban missile crisis (October 1962), the USSR Navy had 17 nuclear submarines, of which 5 were strategic missile submarine cruisers. For the first time since the Russo-Japanese War, Russian sailors once again declared themselves in the vastness of the World Ocean. In the North and Central Atlantic, in the Pacific and Arctic oceans. In July 1962, the K-3 submarine for the first time in Russian history was able to pass under the ice to the North Pole!
Meanwhile, Khrushchev continued his eccentricities: the story of the donated squadron of the Pacific Fleet, which, at the whim of the General Secretary, remained forever in Indonesia, was especially famous. 12 submarines, six destroyers, patrol ships, 12 missile boats … And the main gift is the Ordzhonikidze cruiser, which became part of the Indonesian Navy under the name Irian!
The flagship of the Northern Fleet is TKR Murmansk. Khrushchev sold a similar cruiser for a song to Indonesia!
A whole squadron and hundreds of units of modern military equipment (amphibious tanks, fighters), coastal missile systems, 30 thousand sea mines - all this was given to the Indonesians.
The crews of the donated ships returned home by airplanes, clenching their fists in impotent rage.
"Stalinist" cruisers had a displacement of 18 thousand tons!
Despite the severity of the post-war devastation, 21 cruisers were laid down at the shipyards of the Soviet Union! Of these, 14 were completed (All could have been completed if the fleet were managed by more responsible and competent people.)
All that remained after the "Khrushchev thaw" from large surface warships is two anti-submarine and eight missile cruisers with a displacement of 5-7 thousand tons.
Missile cruiser "Grozny", 1962. The world's first ship equipped with two missile systems - anti-ship P-35 and anti-aircraft M-1 "Volna". It was an unpleasant surprise for the American admirals that the destroyer cruiser with a displacement of 5,500 tons is capable of firing at AUGs from a distance of 350 km.
“We have a nuclear shield … our missiles are the best in the world. The Americans … cannot catch up with us."
- from a note by N. S. Khrushchev for the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, December 14, 1959
Having obsessed with missiles, the secretary general hoped to further reduce the composition of the Navy, but one annoying circumstance intervened in his plans: on November 15, 1960, the submarine missile carrier George Washington went out on combat patrols. The newest superboat equipped with 16 Polaris A-1 SLBMs. The American "killer of cities" could "cover" all large settlements in the European part of the USSR with one salvo.
I had to urgently look for an "antidote".
What Khrushchev built to replace the cut cruisers
An ambitious program for the construction of large anti-submarine ships (BOD) of project 61 was urgently initiated.
Small, well-cut frigates with a total displacement of just over 4 thousand tons became the world's first ships equipped with a gas turbine power plant.
By design, the BOD pr. 61 differed sharply from all ships that had ever been built in the Soviet Union. One glance is enough to understand: these are ships of a new era. They were literally overloaded with radio-technical means of detecting and controlling fire.
Bow and stern air defense systems. Antisubmarine complex with a sonar station with all-round visibility "Titan". Jet bomb launchers, homing torpedoes, universal rapid-fire artillery with fire adjustment according to radar data, a landing pad and equipment for servicing an anti-submarine helicopter. For its time, the "singing frigate" was a masterpiece that embodied all the best achievements of Soviet science and technology.
There were built 20 such units.
In addition to the BOD, an anti-submarine cruiser project (1123 code "Condor") was developed - the first step towards the creation of aircraft-carrying cruisers. In the period from 1962 to 1969. two such ships were built - "Moscow" and "Leningrad".
The PLO cruiser had solid dimensions - the total displacement reached 15 thousand tons. In essence, it was a helicopter carrier, but, unlike the current Mistrals, the Soviet PLO cruiser had a cruising speed of 30 knots and had a powerful armament on board, which included two Storm medium-range air defense systems, universal artillery and … surprise!
So that the American submariners did not get bored, a complex of RPK-1 "Whirlwind" anti-submarine missiles with nuclear warheads was installed on board the cruisers (low power - only 10 kt each, but this was enough to destroy any submarine within a radius of 1.5 km from point of undermining). "Whirlwind" fired at a distance of 24 km - almost 3 times farther than a similar American ASROC complex.
Despite the "backward Bolshevik technologies", the cruisers were equipped with 7 radars for various purposes, a subkeeping GAS "Orion" and a towed low-frequency antenna of the "Vega" complex.
Finally, the main feature of the cruiser is helicopters. A squadron of 14 Ka-25PLs was based on board. To accommodate aircraft, there were two hangars - below deck and one more, in the superstructure, for a couple of duty vehicles.
They knew how to build before!
The Cuban Missile Crisis introduced further adjustments to the plans of the Soviet leadership.
Nikita Khrushchev was suddenly visited by another, this time positive, thought. The revival of the Marine Corps has begun in the Soviet Union! (and was it worth it to break, then to recreate again with such difficulty?)
In 1963, the Marine Guards Regiment was formed in the Baltic. In the same year, Marine regiments appeared in the Pacific Fleet, in 1966 - in the Northern Fleet, and in 1967 - in the Black Sea Fleets.
The Marines require special equipment - landing ships needed to deliver equipment and personnel to the enemy coast. Such ships were designed and built!
Since 1964, the serial construction of large landing ships (BDK) pr. 1171 "Tapir" began. Over the next decade, 14 units were built in the USSR.
It is curious that initially the Tapir project was created as a high-speed dual-purpose ro-ro-ship (warship / civilian ship), and not at all for the Marine Corps. The USSR Navy needed a transport ship to deliver military aid to allied countries in Asia, Africa, then everywhere … The Tapir proved to be so reliable and tenacious that 4 BDKs of this project are still included in the Russian Navy, performing tasks within the framework of the "Syrian express trains ".
Among other interesting creations of that era, one can recall the ships of the measuring complex (KIK) - naval radar bases designed to control the flight parameters of ballistic missiles (monitoring the tests of domestic and foreign ICBMs anywhere in the World Ocean). "Chazhma", "Chumikan", "Sakhalin", "Chukotka" … Their number increased every year.
And how not to remember the world's first ship with a nuclear power plant - the atomic icebreaker "Lenin"!
Even before the official entry of the Lenin into operation (1960), the British Prime Minister, US Vice President R. Nixon, a delegation from the People's Republic of China were on board - the whole world watched the construction of the Soviet "miracle of technology". The emergence of the atomic icebreaker provided the USSR with the status of the sole and full-fledged Master of the Arctic.
The Lenin was capable of operating at maximum power for months, making its way through the ice shell of the Northern Ocean. He did not need to leave the track to refuel. 20 thous. a ton nuclear-powered ship rushed forward through the polar ice - and nothing could stop the mighty ship on its way.
According to the results of the reign of N. S. Khrushchev, the Russian fleet acquired 2 helicopter carriers and 8 missile cruisers, 10 missile destroyers (Project 57 "Gnevny"), 20 large anti-submarine ships, three dozen nuclear submarines, an atomic icebreaker, large landing craft, ships of the measuring complex …
The Soviet Navy was the first in the world to bet on a unique weapon - anti-ship missiles (ASM), which were equipped with hundreds of submarine and surface warships, including missile boats. In 1967, a couple of such boats (project 183-R "Komar") will sink the Israeli destroyer "Eilat", which will shock the NATO leadership. Russians are coming! They have a new superweapon!
And yet, despite all the apparent achievements, N. S. Khrushchev made a big mess of things: all of the above successes appeared not thanks to, but in spite of the efforts of a fan of barren virgin lands and corn.
Ten cut cruisers and battleships, as well as the unjust persecution of the marines, will for a long time be remembered among the people as the "eccentricity" of the "cornman" who inflicted irreparable harm on the Russian army, aviation and navy.
The cruiser-museum "Mikhail Kutuzov" at the pier in Novorossiysk. Stalinist quality for all times!
