The light artillery cruiser of the 68bis Mikhail Kutuzov project (factory number S-385) was laid down on the slipway of the Black Sea Shipbuilding Plant in Nikolaev (now Ukraine) on February 22, 1951. On November 29, 1951, the cruiser's hull was launched. Three years later, on August 9, 1954, the Naval flag of the USSR was hoisted on the cruiser. This day is considered the ship's birthday.
After completing the required course tasks, the ship was commissioned into the Black Sea Fleet in January 1955. He was based at the main base of the Black Sea Fleet — in the hero city of Sevastopol. Its area of responsibility was the Mediterranean and Black Seas, as well as the Central Atlantic, where the Mikhail Kutuzov served until its decommissioning in 1988. By this point, the ship had traveled 211,900 miles.
In August 2001, the Mikhail Kutuzov cruiser made its last crossing from Sevastopol to the port of Novorossiysk, where it was permanently berthed at the berth of the city's Marine Station. The ship became a museum. Today it is a branch of the Central Naval Museum named after Emperor Peter the Great.
