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Further Reading

Project 1134 Berkut Kresta I
Project 1134A Berkut-A Kresta II
Guided Missile Cruiser

The Kresta class ships were designed for antisubmarine and surface warfare operations, and to provide additional air defense coverage for Russian task forces. There are two variations of the Kresta class ships. Though considerably larger, more effective and reliable than the previous Kynda, the Kresta I surface warfare cruisers carried only half as many Shaddock launch tubes and one-fourth the total number of missiles. The Kresta I could launch four SS-N-3b SLCMs and 44 SA-N-1 surface-to-air missiles, and have ten 21-inch torpedo tubes. A single Ka-25 Hormone B is carried for targeting the cruise missile, and mid-course corrections.

Responding to urgent ASW requirements, the SS-N-14 Silex anti-submarine system was employed on the much more capable Project 1134.B (Kresta II), replacing the four SS-N-3 Shaddock anti-ship missiles used on the Kresta I. A helicopter hanger, designed to house one Ka-27PL (Helix) is located on the stern. The Kresta II carries a single nuclear-capable Ka-25 Hormone A helicopter, which could probably deliver nuclear depth bombs. Alterations in hull dimensions provided these ASW cruisers with 38% more below-deck space, allowing the Kresta II to carry more Shtorm and Osa-M air-defense missiles than the Kresta I -- a total of 72 SA-N-3 surface-to-air missiles are carried. The Kresta II is equipped with 76 mm gun mounts, which replaced the 57 mm mounts found on Kresta I ships. The Kresta II class uses a gas-turbine propulsion system that is lighter and more compact than the boilers used on the Kresta I.

Four Kresta I class cruisers became operational during 1967-1969, and ten Kresta II cruisers entered service during 1969-1978. There is rather considerable disagreement among various sources as to the construction sequence and chronology of the units of this class [to the extent that sources disagree as to whether the Admiral Zozulya was the first or the fourth of the Kresta-I class, and as to whether it was launched in 1965 or in 1967]. All Kresta class ships had been stricken by 1994, and as of early 2000 most were believed to have been sold to foreign shipbreakers.