SOVIET / RUSSIAN NAVY (USSR / RUSSIA)

Project history: These were the first Soviet missile warships. Their TTZ was signed by Admiral Kuznetsov on 25 July 1955. They were apparently designed from the beginning as missile ships; it is not clear why their designation was Project 57bis rather than Project 53. Project 57 may have been an alternative configuration, not yet described. Basic design work was completed at the end of December 1956, but the new navy commander, Admiral Gorshkov, ordered some changes the following February. Note that thid project predates the Project 56M. The design missions were to engage enemy surface ships and to attack shore targets, both using the new KSShch missile.

    After a series of model tests of hulls large enough to accommodate the new missile system, a scaled-up Project 56 was chosen, but modified to operate in a chemical or nuclear environment, with airtight remote-control cabs in the engine and boiler rooms. The turbines were modified for better efficiency.

    Each of two KSShch missile magazines held six weapons. In addition, one missile could be carried in the box launcher and another in the magazine, but in that case it was impossible to withdraw a faulty missile before launch. Compared to the Kiparis missile control system of Project 56M, the Topol' system in these ships had an improved computer and added a sighting/range-finding station; there was also an auxiliary control system, Kedr. Topol' used the same Zalp-Shch radar as the earlier Kiparis. It was to have incorporated the new Rangout radar, but that was not ready in time (the radar ended up in missile boats). Using an auxiliary system, the ship could engage two targets simultaneously, firing the missiles 5 to 15sec apart. Plans called for a television receiver (Grusha) by means of which the ship could receive target designation data from an aircraft beyond the horizon, but it was never reliable enough to be worth installing. Presumably it was the conceptual forebear of the system used with P-35. The planned targeting aircraft was probably a Ka-15 helicopter, for which a pad was built aft, and for which the ship carried enough fuel for five flights. In fact the helicopter pad proved unsatisfactory (without the television, it could be used only for visual observation) and was little used; saluting guns were mounted on the pad.

    As in the 56M missile destroyer, torpedo tubes were placed on the sides of the ship (but its greater beam made it possible to provide triple rather than twin tubes). The light anti-aircraft armament was arranged in a rhomboid similar to that of Project 56.

    These ships were soon considered obsolescent; they lacked any effective means of self-defence and their KSShch missile was ineffective. On 30 April 1965 they were ordered converted to ASW ships, presumably as part of the shift towards ASW then in progress. The new version was Project 57A.