Editing Kirov-class cruiser (section)

====Baltic Fleet====
''Kirov'' was commissioned into the [[Baltic Fleet]] in the autumn of 1938, but was still being worked on into early 1939.<ref name=y1>Yakubov and Worth, p. 91</ref> She sailed to [[Riga]] on 22 October 1940 when the Soviet Union began to occupy [[Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940|Latvia]]; the following day she sailed for [[Liepāja]].<ref>Rohwer, p. 7</ref> During the [[Naval warfare in the Winter War|Winter War]], ''Kirov'', escorted by the destroyers ''Smetlivyi'' and ''Stremitel'nyi'', attempted to bombard [[Finland|Finnish]] coast defense guns at [[Russarö]], {{convert|5|km}} south of [[Hanko, Finland|Hanko]]. She fired only 35 rounds before she was damaged by a number of near misses and had to return to the Soviet naval base at Liepāja for repairs. She remained there for the rest of the Winter War and afterwards was under repair at [[Kronstadt]] from October 1940 to 21 May 1941.<ref name=y1/>

Both ''Kirov'' and ''Maxim Gorky'' were transferred to the [[Gulf of Riga]] on 14 June 1941, shortly before the beginning of [[Operation Barbarossa]]. Both cruisers were active in the last days of June covering Soviet defensive mining operations, but ''Gorky'' and her escorts ran into the German-laid "Apolda" [[minefield]] on the 23rd and ''Maxim Gorky'' and the destroyer ''Gnevny'' both lost their bows. ''Gnevny'' sank, while ''Gorky'' made it to port before being transferred, with assistance, to [[Tallinn]] and later to Kronstadt. ''Kirov'' followed her to Tallinn at the end of the month, after being lightened to pass through the shallows of [[Muhu|Moon Sound]].<ref>Rohwer, pp. 81-2, 84</ref>

''Gorky'' had a new bow section fabricated in Kronstadt and it was mated with the ship on 21 July.<ref>Yakubov and Worth, p. 93</ref> ''Kirov'' provided gunfire support during the defense of Tallinn and served as the flagship of the [[Evacuation of Tallinn|evacuation fleet]] from Tallinn to [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]] at the end of August 1941.<ref>Rohwer, pp. 94-5</ref> For most of the rest of the war both cruisers were blockaded in Leningrad and Kronstadt by Axis minefields and could only provide gunfire support for the defenders during the [[siege of Leningrad]] and support for the Soviet [[Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive]] in mid—1944. Both ships were damaged by German air and artillery attacks, but were repaired during the war.<ref name="Yakubov and Worth, pp. 91, 93">Yakubov and Worth, pp. 91, 93</ref>