During the course of the development of the 68-bis project, Admiral Kuznetsov proposed the creation of a cruiser with 220 mm armament. In 1951, a management meeting resulted in an order to design medium cruisers that would be capable of destroying American ships of the Des Moines class. The development of the project, codenamed 66, was completed in March 1953. The lead ship was supposed to be built in Leningrad, and its completion was scheduled for 1957; however, further development of Project 66 ceased after Stalins death.