Russian cruiser Marshal Ustinov
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 Marshal Ustinov leaving Norfolk 1989 |
|
| Career |   |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 1978 |
| Launched: | April 1982 |
| Commissioned: | September 21, 1977 |
| Decommissioned: | N/A |
| Fate: | Active in service |
| General characteristics | |
| See Slava class | |
The RFS Marshal Ustinov , Маршал Устинов, is a Slava class cruiser of the Russian Navy. The Russian name for the ship type is Gvardeysky Raketnyy Kreyser (GRKR), meaning "Large Missile Cruiser". She is named after Dmitriy Ustinov a former Soviet Minister of Defence.
[edit] History
Hull number 070 was laid down at the 61 Kommuna #445 Yard, Mykolaiv (Nikolayev) in 1978 as the second Slava class ship. She was launched in 1982 and commissioned in the Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet four years later in 1986.
In 1994, then commissioned in the Russian Northern Fleet, the Marshal Ustinov was laid up somewhere in the Baltic awaiting extensive repairs. In December 1996, the People's Republic of China bought two Sovremenny class destroyers, and the income from this sale made it possible to pay for the $169 million repairs to the Ustinov.
The Marshal Ustinov has been known to carry two other hull numbers than her original (which was 070); 088 and 055.
