The Kirov class, Soviet designation Project 1144 Orlan, is a class of nuclear-powered
guided missile cruisers of the former Soviet Navy and current Russian Navy.
In the west, the ships of this class are often referred to as ‘battlecruisers’.
This is mainly due to the fact that their size and appearance were similar to the World
War II era battleships.
The Kirov Class was designed to protect the Soviet fleet from American Carrier task force.
The basic idea was to have a platform that had a solid air defense system and lethal
anti-ship capability.
When first of the Kirov class got deployed in 1980, it represented a credible threat
to U.S Navy.
The seriousness of the imminent danger from Kirov was so great that it played a key role
in the recommissioning of the Iowa-class battleships by the United States Navy in the 1980s.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how potent is the Russian Kirov class?
Let’s get started.
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The original plan intended to construct 5 ships.
The plan for construction of a fifth vessel was abandoned on 4 October 1990,
The warships are Admiral Ushakov, Admiral Lazarev, Admiral Nakhimov, and Pyotr Velikiy.
The lead ship of the class, Kirov (renamed Admiral Ushakov in 1992), was laid down in
June 1973 at Leningrad's Baltiysky Naval Shipyard.
It was launched on 27 December 1977 and commissioned on 30 December 1980.
Currently only one of these, the Pyotr Veliky is active and is serving as the flagship of
Russia's Northern Fleet.
Modernization of Admiral Nakhimov is ongoing with trials to start in 2020.
The modernization of Pyotr Velikiy to expected to immediately follow.
The Kirov class is pretty large.
It has a length of 252 m (827 ft).
To give an idea, a Nimitz class supercarrier has a length of 332.8 m or 1,092 feet.
Kirov class displaces 28,000 tons when fully loaded.
This makes it the largest and heaviest surface combatant warship currently active in the
world if we exclude the aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.
Like many Soviet weapons platform, the Kirov class was designed to be robust and is thought
to be capable of absorbing many hits without going down.
It has strong protection in vital parts like a 76 mm plating around reactor compartment.
The ship’s propulsion system consists of 2 KN-3 nuclear marine propulsion with 2 GT3A-688
steam turbines that drive 2 shafts.
The system delivers 140,000 shp which is enough to propel the warship to a maximum speed of
31kt.
Since it is nuclear powered, the ships technically have unlimited endurance and range.
The class has Voskhod MR-800 (Top Pair) search 3D radar on the foremast and Fregat MR-710
(Top Plate) 3D search radar on the main mast.
2 Palm Frond navigation radars are also present.
Horse Jaw LF hull sonar and Horse Tail VDS (Variable Depth Sonar) is available.
The Kirov class has seen many changes in the weapons configuration since its inception.
The current package includes the following.
P 700 Granit missile for Anti Ship Role.
The class can accommodate 20 of these.
P 700 is a pretty large missile and hence the warships have special cells on the upper
deck which are mounted at a 60° elevation for these missiles.
The missile can be launched in salvo mode where the lead missile follows a high flight
trajectory, while the other missiles follow a low-level flight path.
The missile can travel at Mach 1.6 at low altitude and more than Mach 2.5 at high altitude.
It has a range of 625 km or 388 mi.
It carries a 750 kg or 1,653 lb High Explosive warhead.
A single hit from the missile could cripple even an American Super Carrier.
For long-range air defense, an S-300F missile complex is installed on the ship.
It is basically the naval variant of land mobile S 300.
The warship has 12 launchers and 96 vertical-launch system to accommodate these.
The system is thought to be capable of engaging targets flying up to a speed of Mach 8.5.
The interceptor missiles are guided by ship’s radar in the initial and midcourse stage and
also uses its own infrared seeker for the terminal phase.
It can takeout incoming threats at a range between 5 to 150 km that is 3.1 to 93 mi and
at an altitude envelope of 10 to 27 km or 6.2 to 16.8 mi.
For short range air defense, Osa-MA is available.
The ship has two double launchers and 40 missiles.
The is integrated into the ship’s combat systems but can also function autonomously
if required.
Osa-MA has a range of 1.2 to 10 km that is 0.75 to 6.2 miles at an altitude between 25
m and 5,000 m.
The Russian use the AK-130 naval gun turret which is of Soviet origin.
It was developed in the 1970s as a more capable gun turret than the earlier SM-2 as armament
for destroyers and cruisers.
The AK-130 is the most powerful naval gun turret that remains in service.
The AK-130 is one of the few modern two barrel gun turrets.
Its single barrel performance is similar to the American Mk 45.
The ship accommodated as many as ten 533mm torpedo tubes for Type 53 torpedo.
These torpedoes have a range of 22 km or 13.67 miles and a maximum speed of 81 km/h or 51 mi/h.
2 RBU-1000 & 2 RBU-12000 rocket launchers are present for launching Anti Submarine Rockets
of different kinds.
The ship accommodates three Kamov Ka-27PL helicopter.
The Kamov-27 is a well-equipped platform for anti-submarine warfare and has surface search
radar, sonobuoys, dipping sonar, and magnetic anomaly detectors.
It can be armed with torpedoes, bombs, mines, and rockets.
Because of the presence 3 of these, one can remain in the sky all the time.
This means that the warship continuously has a birds-eye view of its surroundings.
The Russian ministry of defense has stated that it wants to modernize the Pyotr Veliky
& Admiral Nakhimov.
A significant upgrade is expected and will feature new components like advance sensors
as well as the integration of several new armaments.
The ship’s anti-air arsenal is supposed to receive a major enhancement, with a navalized
version of the feared S-400 'Triumf air defense system being installed in place of the current
S-300F.
S 400 is significantly better compared to S 300 when it comes to engagement range and
concurrent interception capability.
The 20 cells for P-700 Granit anti-ship missiles will be replaced with 10 VLS modules of the
UKSK versatile ship-based launch system.
Each of these modules has 8 cells, so a total of 80 cells will be available.
These will be used to accommodate anti-ship and land attack variants of Kalibr family
cruise missile.
This will greatly improve the warships offensive capability.
But this may not be it, the warship could also possess a knockout weapon after the upgrade.
This is the hypersonic Zircon anti-ship missile that is supposedly in testing.
As per President Putin’s address in the Russian Federal Assembly, the Zircon is capable
of reaching speeds of Mach 9.
This will make it almost impossible to intercept.
Mr. Putin stated that the missile has a range of over 1000 km or 620 miles.
The missile could be equipped with a High explosive warhead or even a tactical nuclear warhead.
There is no doubt that Russia’s Kirov class super-sized nuclear cruisers are charismatic
warships.
But the subsystems and weaponry are dated.
If the proposed plan for upgrade works out, then it will have two very potent warships
in its navy whose offensive firepower will be a concern for even the mighty U.S carrier
strike groups.
But it will not be an easy task.
Some reports have suggested that the nuclear reactors in the 2 warships need extensive
work, may even need to be replaced completely.
The Russian economy is strained and its ability to finance these kinds of projects is a suspect.
It remains to be seen how things pan out in coming days.