Preceded by Moskva, there were no further vessels built, reportedly due to the poor handling of the ships in rough seas.

They were designed primarily as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) vessels, and her weapons and sensor suite was optimized against the nuclear submarine threat.

A "Mare Tail" variable depth sonar worked in conjunction with heliborne sensors to hunt submarines.

Between 4 August and 14 October 1974 she was the flagship for the detachment of ships in the Suez Canal mine clearance operation.

[2] Leningrad participated in the rescue operations for the Soviet submarine K-19 in the North Atlantic between February and March 1972.