SOVIET / RUSSIAN NAVY (USSR / RUSSIA)

Project history: This Project 56 design was the shrunken version of Project 41. Work began under a 2 June 1951 decree on 'changes in the military characteristics of Project 41'. The main changes ordered were a reduction in full load displacement from 3770t to 3150t, full speed increased from 36kts to 39kts, cruising range (14kts) reduced from 5500nm to 4000nm, stores endurance halved to 10 days, and lighter torpedo tubes and unstabilized 45mm gun mounts (quadruple SM-20s instead of twin SM-16s, 750 rather than 1000 rounds/barrel). A production run of 100 ships (rather than the 110 planned Project 41s) was envisaged. In fact only twenty-seven were completed; production was stopped in October 1955. Four more hulls were then completed as missile ships (Project 56M).

    Presumably the 1951 figures represented a sketch design already available; TsKB-53 skipped the usual preliminary design stage to go directly to detailed design in hope of rescuing the production schedule. Work on the first two ships began in February 1952 (much prefabrication preceded the official keel laying. It was soon obvious that the preliminary figures had been too optimistic. However, the figures were officially confirmed in a TTZ issued 4 April 1954 (full load displacement was allowed to rise to 3220t, required speed to fall to 38.5kts, and the 25mm guns of Project 41 were eliminated). By this time the first unit was nearly ready to launch.

    There were some differences from Project 41 armament: the director was a new type (Sfera-56; the analogous Sfera-50 was used on Project 50 frigates) and the 45mm guns were arranged in a rhombus so that fire could be concentrated along the centreline. Unlike project 41, project 56 had no ASW rocket launchers forward.

    To accommodate the armament and powerplant of Project 41 in a smaller hull, some volume was pushed up above the main deck. To limit topweight, aluminium-magnesium alloy was used in the superstructure. These ships may have had the first Soviet fin stabilizers.

    Trials were not altogether satisfactory. Although the powerplant exceeded design power, Spokoynyy did not make her designed speed until major modifications had been made (a centreline rudder replaced two abaft the propellers, and four-bladed propellers replaced the earlier 3-bladed ones). Even brief periods of high-speed steaming greatly reduced the ship's endurance (one hour at full speed cost 184nm at economical speed, compared to 104nm in Skoryy.

    This class was very well liked in the Soviet Navy, their high bows made them dry, and they were very fast. Blagorodnyy reportedly made 42.9kts after a 1968 refit, and even the slowest of the class made 36kts about a decade after completion.

    One incomplete ship, Bedovyy, was fitted out as a test platform for the new KSS anti-ship missile. The Kiparis system, an adapted gunfire direction system, was used for missile control. Apparently it was then decided to accelerate the missile programme by making this test installation operational (the Project 57 class destroyer was already being developed specifically to fire the KSS missile). Three more ships were completed to a new 56M missile configuration. One of them, Neudierzhimyy, had not been laid down to the Project 56 design, but presumably the material for her construction had already been assembled. These ships were armed with a new quadruple 57mm secondary gun and paired beam torpedo in place of the earlier quintuple mounts. Reportedly the armoured hangar aft contained six missiles. The existing Sfera director was retained.