Why Des Moines is the Sverdlov class's dedicated predator

Which would you choose in a fight, a Sverdlov-class cruiser or USS Des Moines?

Des Moines decisively: it is armored against the Soviet ship's guns, fires heavier shells at an exceptional rate, and is at least as fast.

Des Moines is favored because its armor can resist much of the Sverdlov's 6-inch fire while its rapid 8-inch battery removes the usual lighter cruiser's rate-of-fire advantage. The published speeds quoted are 33 knots for Des Moines and 32.5 knots for Sverdlov. The additional suggestion that American figures understate performance while Soviet figures overstate it remains a judgment about those reported speeds. On those assumptions, Sverdlov has little prospect of winning the fight or escaping by speed alone.