Leaders are the fastest and most technically advanced ships of the Soviet fleet, occupying an intermediate position between destroyers and light cruisers, successfully combining high speed with fairly heavy weapons. In the pre-war years, it was believed that these ships would lead rapid artillery and torpedo attacks on enemy squadrons. It is not surprising that service on leaders for sailors was desirable and honorable. In the difficult years of World War II, the leaders had to solve completely different tasks for which they were created, and the ships of this class became the most active participants in the hostilities in the sea. The heroic flights of Tashkent to besieged Sevastopol, the most difficult campaigns of Baku in the stormy Arctic, the brave raids of Leningrad and Minsk on the Finnish Gulf stuffed with mines will forever remain glorious pages of the military annals of the domestic fleet.