The development of Project 68 began in 1937 as part of a plan to build light cruisers of a new class. Between 1938 and 1947, 26 cruisers of this class were planned to be built; however, not a single ship out of the seven laid down had been completed by the time World War I shook the Soviet Union. Two cruisers under construction in Mvkolaiv were blown up by the Germans during their retreat.