The service record begins with Mediterranean operations and surveillance of NATO's Iron Knight exercise before moving to the 1972 rescue of the damaged submarine K-19. The Kresta worked alongside a Moskva-class helicopter carrier, another cruiser, an older anti-submarine ship, a tender, and rescue vessels, showing that such missions depended on a mixed force. Soviet committees decorated the ship and crew heavily, praise treated cautiously because public acclaim in a totalitarian system can conceal as well as reveal performance. In 1973 the cruiser searched for a suspected NATO submarine in the Norwegian Sea, steaming roughly 6,700 nautical miles over nineteen days. These missions put sonar, helicopters, weapons, endurance, rescue support, and surveillance into the operational pattern of Cold War anti-submarine warfare.
Notable Point · 40:01-44:57
Kresta II in North Atlantic ASW operations
Kresta II service history shows the class performing rescue, surveillance, patrol, and anti-submarine work in the North Atlantic rather than simply displaying missiles in port.