They were modified to improve their sea capabilities, allowing them to operate at high speeds in the rough waters of the North Atlantic.

Stalin, along with the leadership of the Soviet Navy, wanted a ship that followed a naval doctrine focused on three priorities: Secondary missions envisioned for this class of ship were commerce raiding[1] and political presence in the Third World, but they were considered obsolete for the missile age (in which defensive and anti-submarine resources were the priority) by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and the General Staff, who grudgingly conceded only some cruisers for limited roles as flagships in strategic and tactical naval operations.

Within the Soviet Navy in 1959, leading admirals still believed that more big cruisers would be helpful in the sort of operations planned in Cuba and in support of Indonesia.

[citation needed] The big ship threat to the Royal Navy was useful to it in justifying maintaining a conventional fleet of warships and aircraft carriers, especially for use in the North Atlantic.

[2] The response was to introduce the Blackburn Buccaneer, a carrier-based strike aircraft that had the performance required to approach and attack Sverdlov-class ships at ultra-low level, using toss bombing attacks to deliver nuclear ordnance, while remaining outside the 5 km effective range of the Soviet 100 mm (3.9 in) and 37 mm (1.5 in) guns.

[3] When the building program was cut back, and the battlecruisers and carriers were cancelled, the Sverdlovs were left dangerously unprotected when operating in areas outside the cover of land-based aircraft.

The Royal Navy's last Fiji- and Tiger-class gun cruisers, and the USN's Gearing- and Forrest Sherman-class destroyers, lacked the armour, range[4] and speed required to counter the Sverdlovs.

The Soviet Navy intended to base several older Chapayev class cruisers at Cuban ports had the operation succeeded.

[citation needed] These ships were outclassed as surface combatants due to their lack of an anti-ship cruise missile capability.

[6] Sverdlov-class cruisers' main armament included twelve 152 mm (6 in)/57 caliber B-38 guns mounted in four triple Mk5-bis turrets.

In 1957 the Admiral Nakhimov had a KSShch (NATO reporting name: SS-N-1 "Scrubber") anti-ship missile launcher installed to replace "A" and "B" turrets.

[citation needed] Zhdanov and Senyavin were converted to command ships in 1971 by replacing the "X" turret with extra accommodation and electronics, four twin 30 mm AK-230 guns, and a 4K33 "Osa-M" (SA-N-4 "Gecko") SAM system.

Senyavin also had the "Y" turret removed to make room for a helicopter deck and hangar, and four additional AK-230 mounts installed atop the Osa-M missile system.

[6] Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsia was refitted with an enlarged bridge in 1977, with Admiral Ushakov and Aleksandr Suvorov receiving the same modification in 1979, and later, Mikhail Kutusov.