The Kirov-class battlecruiser is a class of nuclear-powered warship of the Russian Navy,
the largest and heaviest surface combatant warships currently in active operation in
the world. Among modern warships, they are second in size only to large aircraft carriers,
and of similar size to a World War I-era battleship. The official designation of the ship-type
is "heavy nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser", but because of their size and general appearance,
the ships are often referred to as battlecruisers by western defense commentators.
Originally built for the Soviet Navy, the class is named for the first of a series of
4 ships to be constructed, Kirov, which was renamed Admiral Ushakov in 1992. Original
plans called for the construction of 5 ships, however the last was cancelled. In Russia
this class of ship is usually referred to by the designation Project 1144 Orlan. Only
the Pyotr Velikiy is still operational, but Russia plans to reactivate the remaining three
vessels by 2020. The appearance of the Kirov class played a
key role in the recommissioning of the Iowa-class battleships by the United States Navy in the
1980s. The Kirov hull design also was used for the
nuclear-powered SSV-33 command ship Ural.
Design Armament
The Kirov class's main weapons are 20 P-700 Granit missiles mounted in deck, designed
to engage large surface targets. Air defense is provided by twelve octuple S-300F launchers
with 96 missiles and a pair of Osa-MA batteries with 20 missiles each. Pyotr Velikiy carries
some S-300FM missiles and is the only ship in the Russian Navy capable of ballistic missile
defence. The ships had some differences in sensor and weapons suites: Kirov came with
SS-N-14 ASW missiles, while on subsequent ships these were replaced with 9K331 Tor SAM
systems. The Tor installation is in fact mounted further forward of the old SS-N-14 mounting,
in the structure directly behind the blast shield for the bow mounted RBU ASW rocket
launcher. Kirov and Frunze had eight 30 mm AK-630 close-in weapon systems, which were
supplanted with the Kashtan air-defence system on later ships.
Other weapons are the automatic 130 mm AK-130 gun system guns instead), 10 21-inch torpedo/missile
tubes and Udav-1 with 40 anti-submarine rockets and two sextuple RBU-1000 launchers.
Fire control
2 × Top Dome for SA-N-6 fire control radar in Pyotr Veliky)
4 × Bass Tilt for AK-360 CIWS System fire control
2 × Eye Bowl for SA-N-4 fire control 2 × Hot Flash/Hot Spot for SA-N-11 Grisom
1 × Kite Screech for AK-100 or AK-130 2 × Cross Sword for SA-N-9
Deployment
The lead ship, Kirov was laid down in June 1973 at Leningrad's Baltiysky Naval Shipyard,
launched on December 27, 1977 and commissioned on December 30, 1980. When she appeared for
the first time in 1981, NATO observers called her BALCOM I.
Kirov suffered a reactor accident in 1990 while serving in the Mediterranean Sea. Repairs
were never carried out, due to lack of funds and the changing political situation in the
Soviet Union. In 1983, a command and control ship, the SSV-33
command ship Ural was launched, although the ship would not be officially commissioned
until 1989. It utilized the basic hull design of the Kirov-class vessels, but with a modified
superstructure, different armament, and was intended for a different role within the Soviet
Navy. The Ural was decommissioned and laid up in 2001, due to high operating costs.
Frunze, the second vessel in the class, was commissioned in 1984. She was assigned to
the Pacific Fleet. In 1992, she was renamed Admiral Lazarev. The ship became inactive
in 1994 and was decommissioned four years later. The ship is currently held in reserve.
On 19 September 2009, General Popovkin, Deputy MOD for Armaments, said that the MOD is looking
into bringing Lazarev back into service. Kalinin, now Admiral Nakhimov, was the third
ship to enter service, in 1988. She was also assigned to the Northern Fleet. Renamed Admiral
Nakhimov, she was mothballed in 1999 and reactivated in 2005. She is in overhaul at Severodvinsk
Shipyard. Construction of the fourth ship, Yuriy Andropov,
encountered many delays; her construction was started in 1986 but was not commissioned
until 1998. She was renamed Pyotr Veliky in 1992. The ship currently serves as the flagship
of the Russian Northern Fleet. On March 23, 2004, English language press
reported that the Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief, Fleet Admiral Vladimir Kuroedov said Pyotr
Veliky '​s reactor was in an extremely bad condition and could explode "at any moment,"
a statement which may have been the result of internal politics within the Russian Navy.
The ship was sent to port for a month, and the crew lost one-third of their pay. Examinations
found no problems with the ship's reactor. A fifth Kirov-class cruiser was planned; originally
named Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov or alternatively reported as Dzerzhinsky,
the ship was never laid down. The name was later changed to Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya,
and then just Kuznetsov; finally, on 4 October 1990, the project for a fifth ship was scrapped.
Units The Russian Navy initially planned to return
both Admiral Ushakov and Admiral Lazarev to service after several years of disuse. However,
it was later indicated that the condition of the reactor cores of both ships was such
that it would prove difficult, expensive and potentially dangerous to remove the spent
nuclear fuel and repair the cores. As a consequence, it is likely that both ships will be scrapped.
See also List of ships of the Soviet Navy
List of ships of Russia by project number References
Bibliography Bishop, Chris. The Encyclopedia of World Sea
Power. New York: Crescent Books. ISBN 0-517-65342-7. OCLC 18199237.
Miller, David; Chris Miller. Modern Naval Combat. London: Salamander Books. ISBN 0-86101-231-3.
OCLC 17397400. External links
Media related to Kirov class battlecruiser at Wikimedia Commons
Illustrated article about the Kirov class. Globalsecurity.org page on Kirov class
Kirov class photos from Mark Meredith (Russian) Encyclopedia of ships
(Russian) Military Reform Support Fund (Russian) Forum discussion of ships' armament
FAS.org article (English) All Kirov Class Battlecruisers - Complete
Ship List