Could Des Moines defeat Soviet paper cruisers?

Would a pair of Des Moines-class cruisers have defeated the proposed Soviet ships?

Not necessarily; the Soviet designs' redundancy and robust engineering could have made them unusually survivable.

Combat performance cannot be settled confidently from specifications alone. Des Moines brought formidable rapid-firing 8-inch guns, but a paper advantage does not reveal how an opponent absorbs damage. The Soviet ships' simple engineering and extensive redundancy might have made them difficult to disable. The comparison therefore turns on maintainability, system duplication, and the uncertainty of first combat as well as nominal firepower.