bow was similar to that of the Chapayev-class light cruisers, but sea trials of the lead ship of that class in December 1950 – January 1951 proved that she was very wet forward, which hindered her seakeeping ability. The Stalingrads bow form was radically altered with a much more raked stem, its sheer and flare were greatly increased and the ship gained almost in length, possibly in response to the Chapayevs problems. In addition the thickness of her belt armor was increased from , possibly in response to weight savings elsewhere. This final design was submitted for approval on 4 June 1951, but preparations for the working design drawings began before it was approved. Design General characteristics The ships of the Stalingrad class were long at the waterline, and long overall. They had a beam of , a maximum draft of forward, aft, and displaced at standard load and at full load. They were the first large Soviet-built ships with a flush deck. The hull was completely welded to save weight and they used longitudinal framing throughout. Metacentric height was estimated at , presumably in the design load condition. The ships had a triple bottom underneath the armored citadel that had a height of and 23 main watertight compartments. They had a crew of 1712 men plus space for 30 when acting as a flagship. The cost for each ship was estimated at 1.168 billion rubles, almost four times the 322 million rubles for a Sverdlov-class cruiser. The ship was intended to be commanded by a rear admiral, with its executive officer, political officer and the heads of the gunnery and engineering divisions as captains 1st rank. Propulsion The high speed demanded of the Stalingrads required four TV-4 geared steam turbines, each producing and driving one propeller. They were powered by twelve water-tube boilers at a pressure of at a temperature of . The machinery was arranged on the unit system so that one hit couldn't knock out all the boilers or all the turbines and immobilize the ship. Two boiler compartments, each with three boilers, were situated underneath the forward funnel, with a turbine compartment for the wing shafts immediately aft and this arrangement was repeated for the two center shafts. of fuel oil were carried which gave a range of at . Maximum speed was . Eight turbo-generators drove the 380V, 50 Hz electrical system in addition to