Soviet Cold War Guided Missile Cruisers

Heavily armed and formidable, guided missile cruisers formed the core of the Soviet Navy during the Cold War. From the last class of conventional Sverdlov-class cruisers through to increasingly complex and formidable missile cruisers, these ships ensured that NATO took the Soviet naval threat seriously. Soviet Cold War Guided Missile Cruisers covers all classes of these impressive warships, from the early Sverdlov through the Kynda, Kresta, Kara, and Slava to the enormous Kirov classes. Together, these vessels marked the apogee of Soviet naval technology and capability and they remain today the largest non-aircraft-carrier warships built since 1945.
Containing material previously available only in Russian and fully researched from specialist defense journals, this comprehensive volume examines the design, development, and intended role of these impressive, hi-tech warships, and recounts their dramatic operational history as NATO and Soviet warships faced off against one another during the long Cold War at sea.

Edward Hampshire is a historian at the Naval Historical Branch of the Ministry of Defence. He has lectured at the Joint Services Command and Staff College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and worked for ten years at the United Kingdom National Archives. He has written on the Cold War at sea, British defence policy and intelligence history, and is currently researching British naval policy in the 1980s. His publications include From East of Suez to Eastern Atlantic, British Naval Policy 1964-70 and (co-authored) British Intelligence: Secrets, Spies and Sources.