Kirov-class battlecruiser Frunze |
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Baltic Shipyard, Leningrad |
| Operators: | Soviet Navy Russian Navy |
| Built: | 1974–1998 |
| In service: | From 1980 |
| Planned: | 5 |
| Completed: | 4 |
| Cancelled: | 1 |
| Active: | 1 (and 3 more in overhaul) |
| Retired: | 0 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 24,300 tons standard, 28,000 (full load) |
| Length: | 252 m (827 ft) |
| Beam: | 28.5 m (94 ft) |
| Draft: | 9.1 m (30 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft CONAS, 2× KN-3 nuclear propulsion with 2× GT3A-688 steam turbines 140,000 shp[1] |
| Speed: | 32 knots (59 km/h) |
| Range: | 1,000 nautical miles (2,000 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h) (combined propulsion), unlimited at 20 knots (37 km/h) on nuclear power |
| Complement: | 710 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
Radars: (NATO reporting name): |
| Electronic warfare and decoys: |
2 x PK-2 Decoy dispensers (400 rockets) |
| Armament: |
Missiles: |
| Armour: | 76 mm plating around reactor compartment, light splinter protection |
| Aircraft carried: | 3 helicopters |
| Aviation facilities: | Below-deck hangar |
The Kirov-class battlecruiser is a class of nuclear-powered military ships of the Russian Navy, the largest and heaviest surface combatant warships (i.e., not an aircraft carrier, assault ship, or submarine) currently in active operation in the world. The Russian designation is heavy nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser.[2] Originally built for the Soviet Navy, in Russia the class is usually known by the designation Project 1144 Orlan (sea eagle).
They are second in size only to large aircraft carriers, and are similar in size to a World War I battleship. Because of their size, the ships are sometimes referred to as battlecruisers in western media. 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.[3][4][5]
The Kirov hull design also was used for the nuclear-powered SSV-33 command ship.
Contents |
The lead ship, Kirov (renamed Admiral Ushakov in 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union) 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 (Baltic Combatant 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. She may have been cannibalized as a spare parts cache for the other ships in her class.
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.[6]
Kalinin 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 Velikiy (Peter the Great) in 1992.[7] The ship currently serves as the flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet.
On March 23, 2004, the Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief, Fleet Admiral Vladimir Kuroedov said Petr Velikiy's reactor was in an extremely bad condition and could explode "at any moment". This statement was later withdrawn and may have been the result of internal politics within the Russian Navy, as Admiral Igor Kasatonov (the uncle of Petr Velikiy's commanding officer, Vladimir Kasatonov) was testifying in the court hearings on the losses of K-159 and Kursk.[8]
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.
The fifth ship, originally to be named Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov, was never laid down and was cancelled in 1990.[7] Alternately reported to be known as Dzerzhinskiy. Her name was changed to Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya (October Revolution),[9] and then Kuznetsov,[10] and later scrapped while incomplete.
The Kirov class's main weapons are 20 P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) 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. 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 (1.2 in) 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 (5.1 in) AK-130 gun system (except in Kirov which had two single 100 mm (3.9 in) guns instead), 10 torpedo/missile tubes (capable of firing SS-N-15 missiles on later ships), Udav-1 with 40 anti-submarine rockets and two sextuple RBU-1000 launchers.
| Original Ship Name | Renamed | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirov | Admiral Ushakov | March 26, 1974 | December 27, 1977 | December 30, 1980 | Planned to be refitted and return to service by 2020.[11] |
| Frunze | Admiral Lazarev | July 26, 1978 | May 26, 1981 | October 31, 1984 | Planned to be refitted and return to service by 2020.[11] |
| Kalinin | Admiral Nakhimov | July 21, 1983 | March 4, 1986 | December 30, 1988 | Overhaul[12][13] (In overhaul since 1999, full refit and extensive modernization will begin after 2012)[14] |
| Yury Andropov | Pyotr Velikiy | March 11, 1986 | April 29, 1989 | April 9, 1998 | Active[15] (Ops in Atlantic and Indian Oceans and Mediterranean Sea 2010) |
| Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov | N/A | never laid down | N/A | N/A | Cancelled October 4, 1990 |
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||