As already indicated, the Kirov—named for Bolshevik revolutionary and Joseph Stalin toady Sergei Mironovich Kirov (March 27, 1886—December 1, 1934) —was the lead ship of the class laid down ...

In 1935, an additional 98 individuals were sentenced, 19 to prison and 79 to exile, for playing a role in the assassination of Sergei Kirov as Josef Stalin ruled unchallenged throughout Soviet Russia.