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See also: Kirov class cruiser

Kirov class battlecruiser Frunze
Class overview
Builders:	Leningrad
Operators:	Soviet Navy  Russian Navy
In service:	1980
Ships in class:	5
Ships active:	Admiral Nakhimov (ex-Kalinin) Pyotr Velikiy (ex-Yuri Andropov)
Ships out of service:	Admiral Ushakov (ex-Kirov) Admiral Lazarev (ex-Frunze)
Ships never completed:	Dzerzhinsky
General characteristics
Displacement:	24,300 tons Standard, 28,000 (Full Load)
Length:	252 m (830 ft)
Beam:	28.5 m (94 ft)
Draft:	9.1 m (30 ft)
Propulsion and power:	2-shaft CONAS, Nuclear propulsion with steam turbine boost 140,000 shp
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h)
Range:	1,000 nautical miles (2,000 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h) (combined propulsion), Essentially unlimited with nuclear power at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Armour:	76 mm plating around reactor compartment, light splinter protection
Complement:	710
Armament:	20 P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) AShM 14 SS-N-14 Silex ASW cruise missiles (Ushakov only) 96 S-300PMU Favorit SA-N-6 Grumble surface-to-air missiles (Ushakov, Lazarev, Nakhimov) 96 S-400 (SA-NX-20 Gargoyle) long-range SAM (Pyotr Velikhy) 192 9K311 Tor (SA-N-9 Gauntlet) point defense SAM 44 OSA-MA (SA-N-4 Gecko) PD SAM 2x RBU-1000 305 mm ASW rocket launchers 2x RBU-12000 (Udav-1) 254 mm ASW rocket launchers 1 twin AK-130 130 mm/L70 dual purpose gun (2x AK-100 100 mm/L60 DP guns in Ushakov) 10 533 mm ASW/ASuW torpedo tubes, Type 53 torpedo or SS-N-15 ASW missile 8x AK-630 hex gatling 30 mm/L60 PD guns (Ushakov, Lazarev) 6x CADS-N-1 Kashtan missile/gun system (Nakhimov, Pyotr Velikhy)
Aircraft carried:	3 helicopters
Aviation facilities:	Below-deck hangar

The Kirov class battlecruisers are some of the largest and most powerful surface warships of the Russian Navy and world. Originally built for the Soviet Navy, in Russia they are usually known by the designation Project 1144 Orlan (meaning Sea eagle). They are among the largest warships in the world, second only to aircraft carriers, and are similar in size to a World War I battleship.

Because of this, the ships are sometimes known as battlecruisers in the West. Soviet and Russian naval analysts always referred to it as a "large missile cruiser." It is more appropriate to consider Kirov an oversized guided missile cruiser, analogous to the U.S. Navy Alaska-class battlecruiser, which had the displacement and armament of a battlecruiser but otherwise was closer to a heavy cruiser in mission and construction. The appearance of the Kirov class was a significant factor in the U.S. Navy recommissioning the Iowa class.

The Kirov hull design was used for the nuclear-powered command ship SSV-33.

Contents 1 Armament 2 Deployment 3 Description 4 Units 5 External links 5.1 See also

This class has an impressive armament of missiles and guns as well as electronics. Its largest radar antenna is mounted on its foremast, and called "Top Pair" by NATO. The Kirov class's main weapons are 20 × SS-N-19 Shipwreck missiles mounted on deck, designed to engage large surface targets, and air defense is provided for with 12 × S-300F launchers with 96 missiles and 2 × Osa-MA with 40 missiles. The ships had some differences in sensor and weapons suites; the lead ship Kirov came with SS-N-14 ASW missiles; on subsesquent ships they were replaced with 4 × 9K331 Tor SAM systems. Kirov and Frunze had eight 30 mm AK-630 close-in weapon systems, which were supplanted with the Kashstan air-defence missile/gun system on later ships.

Other weapons are the automatic 130 mm AK-130 gun system (except on Kirov which had two single 100 mm guns instead), 10 × torpedo/missile tubes (capable of firing SS-N-15 missiles on later ships, Udav-1 with 40 anti-submarine rockets and the 2 × RBU-1000 six-tube launchers.

The lead ship, Kirov (renamed Admiral Ushakov in 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union) was laid down in June of 1973 at Leningrad's Baltiysky Naval Shipyard, launched on December 26, 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 completed in 1984. She was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. In 1991, she was renamed Admiral Lazarev. The ship became inactive in 1994 and was decommissioned four years later.

Kalinin was the third ship to enter service, in 1988. She was also assigned to the Northern Fleet. Renamed to Admiral Nakhimov, the ship was mothballed in 1999 and reactivated in 2005.

Construction of the fourth ship, Yuri Andropov encountered many delays; her construction was started in 1986 but was not completed until 1996, when she was christened Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great). The ship currently serves as the flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet.

On March 23, 2004, the Russian Northern Fleet Chief Commander, Admiral Vladimir Kuroedov said that Pyotr 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 Pyotr Velikiy commander Vladimir Kasatanov) was testifying in the court hearings on the loss of the K-159 and the Kursk disaster.

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, to be known as Dzerzhinsky, also ran into delays. Her name was changed to October Revolution,^{[citation needed]} and then Kuznetsov,^[1] and later scrapped while incomplete.

Radars:

• Voskhod MR-800 (Top Pair) 3D search radar on foremast
• Fregat MR-710 (Top Steer) 3D search radar on main mast
• 2 × Palm Frond navigation radar on foremast

Sonar

• Horse Jaw LF hull sonar
• Horse Tail VDS (Variable Depth Sonar)

Fire control:

• 2 × Top Dome for SA-N-6 fire control (the forward Top Dome is replaced with Tomb Stone in Pyotr Velikiy)
• 4 × Bass Tilt for AK-360 CIWS System fire control (not in Nakhimov or Pyotr Velikiy)
• 2 × Eye Bowl for SA-N-4 fire control (Also for SS-N-14 in Ushakov)
• 2 × Hot Flash/Hot Spot for SA-N-11 Grisom (CADS-N-1 units only)
• 1 × Kite Screech for AK-100 or AK-130
• 2 × Cross Sword for SA-N-9 (Gauntlet-equipped units only)

• Kirov/Admiral Ushakov - Status unknown, believed decommissioned in 2001
• Frunze/Admiral Lazarev - Decommissioned in 1997
• Kalinin/Admiral Nakhimov - Undergoing repairs at Sevmash since 1999. Completed ahead of schedule in 2005, returned to active service in the Northern fleet.
• Yuri Andropov/Pyotr Velikiy - Active
• Dzerzhinsky - Cancelled

• Globalsecurity.org page on Kirov class
• Kirov class photos from Mark Meredith
• article in Russian from Encyclopedia of ships
• article in Russian from the Military Reform Support Fund
• article in Russian discussing the ships' armament
• article in English from FAS

• Kirov class cruiser for World War II-era ships

v • d • e Kirov-class battlecruiser
Battlecruisers: Admiral Ushakov (ex-Kirov) · Admiral Lazarev (ex-Frunze) · Admiral Nakhimov (ex-Kalinin) · Pyotr Velikiy (ex-Yuri Andropov) · Dzerzhinsky Command ships: SSV-33 List of ships of the Soviet Navy

v • d • e  Soviet naval ship classes of the Cold War
Aircraft Carriers
Moskva | Orel | Kiev | Ulyanovsk | Kuznetsov
Battlecruisers
Stalingrad | Kirov
Cruisers
Sverdlov | Kynda | Kresta I | Kresta II | Kara | Slava
Destroyers
Skoryy | Neustrashimy | Kotlin | Kildin | Krupny/Kanin | Kashin | Sovremenny | Udaloy
Frigates
Kola | Riga | Petya | Mirka | Koni | Krivak | Neustrashimy
Corvettes
Pauk | Parchim | Nanuchka | Tarantul | Grisha