How the cruiser Murmansk lived and died

On the Christmas morning of 1994, before the eyes of astonished Norwegian fishermen, there appeared a huge hull of a warship lying on the ground near the shore. Soon it turned out that this was a former Soviet, and now Russian cruiser "Murmansk", already, incidentally, sold to Indians as scrap metal. Neighborhood with this ghost of the Cold War lasted eighteen years. But the ship of this has its own story. A lot of this rusty case could tell us, if I could talk. About distant hikes, storms and alarms ...

The first "Murmansk"

Yes, there was once another ship bearing this name. During the Tehran conference, Stalin hinted to the heads of the allied powers that he had not forgotten about the share of the USSR in the section of the fleet of already capitulated Italy. It consisted of four submarines, eight destroyers, a battleship and a cruiser, all of recent construction. Under the pretext of the complexity of delivery, the Americans and the British offered their own combat units, quite old, but after the war was promised to replace them with Italian ones. Eventually, in 1944 ships, including Milwaukee, renamed the cruiser Murmansk, came to the Northern Fleet for reparations to the Northern Fleet . The ship did not leave the sea at all, its powerful anti-aircraft artillery was used to protect the sky over the bay of Murmansk, Polar and Vaengi, but in this business he succeeded. After 1945, "Murmansk" - "Milwaukee" returned to the United States, and later the famous name received a new incarnation.

New "Murmansk"

After the Victory in the USSR the program of modernization of the Navy took off. In its course, construction of the newest high-speed cruisers under the project 68-bis began. On the shipyards of Molotovsk, Nikolaev and Leningrad, the corps of new ships was laid, the first of which was Sverdlov, and the last, the fourteenth, was the cruiser Murmansk. These units were supposed to ensure a stable presence of Soviet naval forces in the waters of the entire oceans. The requirements for shipbuilders were dictated by the harsh necessity and rigidity. With continued autonomy, it was necessary to ensure excellent running and maneuvering characteristics, and the artillery was to become a real smashing fiery tornado , if necessary. Shipbuilders coped with the task.

Artillery cruiser in the atomic age

In 1955, there were a number of significant events in the history of the Soviet Navy, for example, the first nuclear torpedo was tested, and the first underwater nuclear-powered ship was adopted. Somehow in the shadow of these glorious milestones there was one more fact, and perhaps it was considered insignificant. On April 24 the last representative of the project 68-bis cruiser "Murmansk" was launched. The review of its technical characteristics, for all their splendor, was not impressed by the then military-political leadership of the USSR. And First Secretary Khrushchev, and Defense Minister Zhukov dreamed of something nuclear, missile, and even better - underwater.

A dozen guns of the main caliber (152 mm), as many auxiliary universal (100 mm), 32 anti-aircraft automatic rapid-fire guns, dozens of torpedoes - all this did not impress the leaders who were not very much versed in naval affairs. With a total displacement of 16.3 thousand tons, the cruiser "Murmansk" had a length of 210 m, a width of 22 m and a draft of 7.26 m. It could develop a course of up to 31.5 knots (this is very much the present time) and had a powerful Booking.

Nevertheless, the ship built under Stalin was already considered morally obsolete. Above him was the threat of cutting metal immediately after launching.

Military service in peacetime

Fortunately, the light cruiser Murmansk managed to defend the fleet command, albeit with losses, and with reductions. Since 1963, the ship participates in many exercises far from home coasts. Then, as the best, he is sent with friendly visits to different countries, he defends the North of the USSR during the height of the Cold War, receives the honorary title of "Excellent" (1965), takes on the General Secretary Brezhnev (1967) and other high guests. During the Arab-Israeli war, he cruises in the Mediterranean with a hastily created squadron, then serves in the Atlantic. In general, the biography of the ship is rich in events, it is enough to mention at least that the distance traveled by it along the oceans corresponds to the length of eleven equators.

Resignation and last flight

Time is inexorable, but this ship was leaving with honor. In 1989, he last "shot", and did it best of all. In December of the same year, the cruiser was officially withdrawn from service, and the team disbanded. The first time he stood in a canned state, and in 1994 he was sold to India for scrap metal cutting.

It is always sad to watch how the old technician is doomed to scrapping. But the ship's unruly disposition manifested itself in this last episode of his biography. The storms of the Barents Sea cut off the tow cables, but carefully put the now dead body on the sandbank. The element itself did not want to let go of its pet, so many decades of furrowing its expanses.

For many years he stood by the shore, and only the formidable gun turrets reminded that this mountain of metal was once the cruiser "Murmansk". Photo of the ship was published by the European press, articles were written about him. Eventually, for fear of possible damage to the environment, it began to be cut into metal. By 2013, there was nothing left of the formidable ship.