History & Modifications
Kaganovich:
Kaganovich was towed to Vladivostock for completion. In 1944 she was renamed Lazar Kaganovich. On 3rd
August 1957 she was renamed Petropavlovsk. In February 1960 she was converted to a barracks ship and
scrapped later that year.
Kalinin:
Kalinin was towed to Vladivostock for completion and saw no action. She was decommissioned in 1960 and
scrapped in 1961.
Maxim Gorky:
Maxim Gorky was commissioned in the Baltic Fleet. On 23rd June 1941 she was providing escort for
inelaying destroyers in the Gulf of Finland when one destroyer was sunk by a mine, and Maxim Gorky
lost her bows on another. Emergency repairs were made at Worms, and she proceeded to Leningrad.
Before full repairs were completed, she was used for the defence of the city. On 23rd September 1941
she was damaged in an air attack. By 1943 the tertiary armament was 6 x 45mm, 3 x 37mm and 6 x 0.5".
On 4th April 1943 she was damaged by an artillery shell during an air raid.
In January 1944 she bombarded German positions around Leningrad in support of the Russian
counterattack. By 1945 the tertiary armament was 6 x 45mm, 13 x 37mm and 8 x 0.5". Postwar she was
used as a trials ship She was stricken in February 1956 and arrived for scrapping at Marti,
Leningrad, on 18th April 1958.
Molotov:
Molotov was commissioned in the Black Sea Fleet. On 1st November 1941 she was sent to the Caucasus,
ut was soon recalled to Sevastopol for the defence of that city as she was the only Russian ship at
the time to be fitted with radar. In December she evacuated 600 wounded troops from the city to
Novorossisk. On 1st January 1942 she returned to Sevastopol bringing reinforcements.
In March she made 3 more voyages to and from Sevastopol, bringing in reinforcements and evacuating
wounded. In June she was attacked by the Italian midget submarine CB3, but not damaged. After
Sevastopol was captured, she bombarded German positions around Fedosia on 2nd August 1942. There,
she was torpedoed either by an Italian MTB or a German aircraft, and had about 60' of her stern
wrecked.
In 1943 the tertiary armament was 6 x 45mm, 3 x 37mm and 6 x 0.5". She was repaired at Poti,
using parts from the cruiser Frunze, and parts brought in by train from Tashkent and Leningrad.
Repairs were complete by late 1943, but she saw no more action. By 1945 the tertiary armament
was 6 x 45mm, 13 x 37mm and 8 x 0.5".
In 1956 she was refitted, and renamed Slava in 1957. In 1973 she made her last voyage, to the
Mediterranean before being scrapped in 1978.