The ships had a pair of geared steam turbines, each driving one three-bladed propeller using steam from a pair of Yarrow boilers that operated at a pressure of and a temperature of . The turbines, designed to produce , were intended to give the "Tashkent"s a maximum speed of and "Tashkent" herself reached from during her sea trials in 1938, although her armament had yet to be fitted. She reached once her armament had been installed. The ships had a maximum capacity of of fuel oil which gave them a range of at a speed of . They were equipped with a pair of turbogenerators and three diesel generators, two of and one of .