Murmansk (????????) of the Sverdlov class

Murmansk (??) was the last of the light battleships of the Sverdlov class

Whatever picture you have....you post it here and we'll use our intel to help you identifying the subjects on the picture.

updated: picture has been identified, topic closed

It looks like the remains of a really old ship.  It's very rusted isn't it?  Interesting.  I wonder what the history is behind it.

Let´s see, I am also not a ship expert, but some things might have help the ID:

- 3x3 or 4x3 turrets (if those things in the rear also are range finders than it is 4x3 probably)

- range finders and turrets design suggest 1920-1930 keel laid

- 3 (? could be more, its what we see) secondary gun turrets midships and rear each side

- proportion might be distorted, but the turrets look fairly small to  me, also the chimney has me wondering (if its a steamer, did it have a 2nd?)

- rear turrets way elevated in comparison to the front ones

- protruding f´castle under the bridge

My exclusions would be Japanese, their turrets I have seen look rounded or angled most of the time, also they had on their heavy cruisers usually double turrets. Generally would also exclude Light Cruisers for this reason

Now, the big question: Battleship? Battlecruiser? Heavy Crusiser?

One of those three would be my guess, tending to Heavy Cruiser, but then its either very old or not US (as they later all had standard 3x3 turrets and I have checked most of the classes and found no matches).

FWIW (will ask someone specialised in ships to take a look)

Rattler

I have looked at a website with all Japanese cruisers, but I think its not a Japanese cruiser.
They all have dual gun turrets and this one has 3 guns per turret.
What about UK or German boat?

I don´t know about the location. The page given by Koen would be good, but I am not going to register as I have only curiosity for this photo, no more interest in ships, if anyone is registered could put it on there and tell us if there is any answer.

Best

links:
http://sovietrussia.co.uk/the-soviet-battleship-that-continues-to-wage-war/
http://home.online.no/~raymon-e/murmansk1.htm

thx to the help of Santos at http://www.shipsnostalgia.com

The Soviet battleship that continues to wage war

Norway Russian Light Cruiser Wreck

On the coast of Norway, a Soviet warship doesn’t seem to be aware that the Second World War and the Cold War are already over. Indifferent, the Murmansk cruiser stands guard in front of the island of Sørøya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8r%C3%B8ya), with its canons at the ready, as if there were still Nazi troops on the horizon or an American aircraft carrier could appear at any moment.

But the only ones that feel threatened by its presence are the pacific inhabitants of the area, descendents of those who, ironically, had their lives saved in 1945 thanks to the city that gives its name to the ship.

The Murmansk (??) was the last of the light battleships of the Sverdlov class (OTAN designation, project 68-bis according Soviet designation) to be launched, in 1955. During its years of service in the North Sea Fleet it participated in numerous manoeuvres, was part of almost the entire Cold War, and even participated in the War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt, lending its support to the latter.

After a rather discreet operative life, especially due to the advent of the guided missiles that made these type of ships obsolete, in 1989 the Murmansk was decommissioned and ended up anchored in the Kola Bay (?? ??).

Paradoxically, when it seemed as if our protagonist had already been relegated to the annals of history, abandoned to the mercy of the harsh Arctic weather, is when it became worldwide famous: on Christmas Eve, 1994, after having been sold to an Indian company at the price of scrap metal, a strong storm swept it to the Norwegian coast while it was being tugged on its way to the scrap yard.

After various fruitless attempts to recuperate the hull, the Murmansk ended up aground in front of the village of Sørvær. With an estimated cost of tens of millions of dollars, the rescue operation was a project that no one wanted to take on.

Since then, the old warship has converted into a fairground ride for locals and foreigners: a great place for the town’s fishermen to have a beer, a must-see place for submarine enthusiasts and a mecca of pilgrimage for Russian tourists.

In the last few years, though, the deaths of several sailors from cancer and the warnings sent out by various ecological organizations have put the Murmansk under suspicion of containing radioactive substances. Even though both the Norwegian government and Russian specialists have denied that the battle ship poses a real threat, the area’s inhabitants now don’t see the ship in a favourable light.

Ironically, the ship that threatens the inhabitants of Sørøya has the name of the city that in 1945 served as a means of escape for more than 500 civilians that, fleeing from the German advance, managed to escape to Scotland thanks to the operation known as “Open Door”, in which four destroyers of the Royal British Navy participated and that relied on collaboration with the Soviet Union.

GJ, Koen! 

Here the details:

Ship alive (looks quite different, nothing like my 1920-39 design guess..., though, it was indeed laid out in WWII and a modification of the Chapayev class: "Chapayev class (Project 68 ) were a group of cruisers built for the Soviet Navy during World War II", a "steamer" allright, and the displacement does not make it really light... My "secondry turrets" turn out to be AA turrets, with a kind of short range radar domes as last ditch defense):



Type:    Cruiser
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 15.2 cm 57 cal B-38 in 4 triple Mk5-bis turrets,
12 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

Rattler