The sleek new 12,800-ton Russian cruiser Sverdlov* appeared off the Isle of Wight last week, bound for the coronation naval review. A British pilot went aboard, but Captain Olimpey Rudakov had no need for him. Silent on the bridge, his chest diagonally festooned with medals, Captain Rudakov manipulated a series of levers behind him to convey his orders to the engine room and the helmsman. At the correct spot, the correct time, he dropped anchor. Simultaneously, with a flick of another switch, he set off a 21-gun salute.
"According to British naval estimates," said Radio Moscow, "the anchoring of the Sverdlov should have taken one hour, 20 minutes. The Soviet cruiser anchored in 12 minutes." Asked the London News Chronicle: "Who said the Russians were no seamen?"
The Ship. As the Sverdlov loomed through the early morning mist, a hum of excitement spread through the dockyard city of Portsmouth: she was the first Russian warship to visit Britain since the war. Old hands quickly noted that she was trim and tidy, that she was correctly dressed overall to honor the Duke of Edinburgh's birthday. Royal Navy liaison officers also marked her power (twelve 6-in. guns in paired turrets fore & aft, twelve dual-purpose guns, ten torpedo tubes, double sets of minelaying cables) and her probable speed (35 knots). Said the Admiralty: "We find her very interesting."
The Crew. Even more interesting was the inconsistent behavior of the 1,000-man crew. First, there was indecision:
¶ The British offered 30 seats for a bus tour of London; the Russians asked for 150 seats; no Russians showed up.
¶ The British asked them to a dance; the Russians accepted; no Russians showed up.
But soon they streamed ashore, fresh-faced young sailormen in small and large parties directed by ship's officers and Russian embassy guides. They drove to London, to Salisbury Cathedral, to Windsor Castle, chorusing sea chanteys and waving at girls. They watched the Queen review the Guards, took in a debate at the House of Commons, stood for ten minutes in the rain at Karl Marx's grave. "Their guide allows them two minutes to see the Tower of London," said the Daily Mirror. "Then he gives them the works. The drab back streets where the poor live. The bomb sites where they died, 45 minutes of dusty reality." The Mirror professed not to mind: "London can take honest scrutiny as she has taken fire, plague and bomb."
The Review. This week the Sverdlov stood amid 206 British Commonwealth warships, 56 British merchantmen and 15 other foreigners (including the U.S.S. Baltimore) as the Queen's yacht swept down the lines. As the Queen passed by, the Russians cheered her, and a flashing electric sign spelled out Sverdlov. Next day the Russian ship headed toward home, leaving Britons to wonder whether they should scoff any more at a navy that is bigger than theirs.
* The Sverdlov is named for Old Bolshevik Leader Yakov Sverdlov, a crony of Lenin, and the man who in 1918 ordered the execution of Czar Nicholas II and his family.