Why Sverdlov carried twelve six-inch guns

Would eight or nine 8-inch guns have been more impressive than Sverdlov's twelve 6-inch guns on the same displacement?

The 6-inch battery was buildable, imposing, and compatible with a fleet that also planned Stalingrad battlecruisers. The reply's separate twelve-gun 8-inch alternative would require a larger hull and could provoke stronger Western construction.

Six-inch guns matched Soviet industrial capability and fitted a wider program that originally included the heavier Stalingrad battlecruisers. As battleships and heavy cruisers disappeared, twelve large guns still conveyed considerable power to observers without detailed knowledge of their performance. The original question proposes eight or nine 8-inch guns on the same displacement. The reply then considers a different alternative, twelve 8-inch guns, which would have required a somewhat larger hull to retain the desired speed and capabilities. That heavier battery could also have encouraged more American cruiser construction and changed which British cruiser projects were completed. The twelve 6-inch guns offered substantial volume of fire within the intended Soviet fleet.