In 2002 Armenia issued a stamp to commemorate Hovhannes Tevossian. He was a statesman of the USSR and an organizer of industry. He was also a metallurgical engineer.
On the stamp are technical drawings of an aircraft, a tank and a Russian SVERDLOV class cruiser. It may be SVERDLOV, the lead ship of the class, but I am not sure that it can be positively identified.
The ships of this class were built in Leningrad at the Baltic Works and the Marti shipyard and also at the Molotovsk Shipyard in Severodvinsk.
Of the 24 cruisers of this class originally projected 20 keels were laid and 17 hulls were launched from 1951 onwards, but only 14 ships were completed by 1956. There were two slightly different types. SVERDLOV and sisters had the 37 mm AA guns near the fore funnel one deck higher than in later cruisers. All ships were fitted for minelaying with stowage on the second deck.
By 1972 there were 12 known ships in service with the Russian fleet and in 1986 there were 9. The hulls of four of the uncompleted cruisers had been broken up at Leningrad. The Majority of the vessels had been scrapped by 1991. The Sverdlov class cruiser MURMANSK was on tow and on its way to an Indian scrapyard in December 1994 when it hit some rocks off the Norwegian coast between North Cape and Tromso. She is now aground on Soeroey, Finmark. It has been partly visible and in a rusting condition ever since. There is one remaining vessel, the MIKHAIL KUTUZOV, which was retained as a museum ship at Novorossiysk.
Details
Displacement: 13,600 tons standard,
16,640 tons full load
Length: 210 m overall, 205 m waterline
Beam: 22 m
Draught: 6.9 m
Propulsion: 2 shaft geared steam turbines, 6 boilers, 110,000 hp
Speed: 32.5 knots
Range: 9000 nm at 18 knots
Complement: 1,250
Armament: 12 x 15.2 cm 57 cal B-38 in four triple Mk5-bis turrets,
12 x 10.0 cm 56 cal Model 1934 in 6 twin SM-5-1 mounts
32 x 3.7 cm AA
10 x 533 cm torpedo tubes
Armour: Belt: 100 mm
Conning tower: 150 mm
Deck: 50 mm
Turrets: 75 mm
Sources: Jane's Fighting ships 1972; Guide to the Soviet Navy – Fourth Edition 1986 by Norman Polmar; Various internet sites; Wikipedia; http://www.divenorway.com/murmansk_gallery.htm
Peter Crichton.