Laying to Finale
Thus far the designers [napryazhenno] had worked at documentation, but at the construction plants an accelerated rates was developed in the preparation for the laying of ships. To build heavy cruisers charged to the plants of #194 imeni Marti in Leningrad (until November 1922 - "Admiralty Plant", now state unitary enteprise "Admiralty Shipyards") and 61 Communards (until February 1930 - "Russud") in Nikolayev.
The building of heavy ships, after a twenty-year interruption, was connected with many problems. At the plant #194 the largest southern stock was specially overhauled, while at the plant #200 specially for the heavy cruisers it was necessary to build new stocks. In Leningrad, where the head ship was created, the full-scale mock-ups of basic battle posts, turbine and boiler room, prepared, experimental boiler was perfected on the stand.
Details of the two heavy cruisers according to the drawings of Project 69 were given out to the plants in March 1939, and on 30 November 1939 at the plant #194 took place the official laying of head cruiser "Kronstadt", that received factory serial number "550". Building headed S.M.Turunov. Somewhat earlier, on November 5, at the plant of #200 they placed "Sevastopol" (plant # 1089, main builder G.V.Babenko). They established the period of the delivery of ships in 1943.
The operation was followed personally by I.V. Stalin, which explained the hurry with their laying, important it was to report about this to Secretary General.
After the beginning of the Great Patiotic War, by the decision of the state committee of defense dated July 10, 1941 the building of the heavy cruisers was stopped with their technical readiness of about 12%. All forces of plants were cast for building of light ships, submarines and launches.
In summer and autumn of the first year of war, the armor constructions of cruiser "Kronstadt" were used for the building of reinforced-concrete pillboxes. The hull of "Sevastopol", seized by the Fascist-German troops in August 1941 on the stock, and was during the occupation partially dismantled, and metal and armor were exported to Germany. The completion of the cruisers of Project 69 was not renewed after the end of war. There were no turrets of the main battery, or the main engines.
The experience of the past war showed that to finish building heavy cruisers with obsolete armament did not make sense. Moreover, full speed, as before under the fixed observation of Stalin himself, occurred the design of his new favorites - the heavy cruisers of Project 82, which had to be more advanced in comparison with Project 69. They introduced different proposals on the completion of ships both as the heavy aircraft carriers to 76 aircraft and as the bases of whaling expeditions, but they all for the different reasons were deflected. The decision of the Council of Ministers of USSR about the dismantling of the ships of Project 69 "to the metal" in March 1947 left experience accumulated with design and building of these heavy cruisers, was used with the creation of new, more contemporary ships.
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