Yeah back in the day aircraft carriers were considered a variety of cruiser hence the designation CV = Cruiser aViation (Criuser Armoured already been taken)
A factoid I did not know. Most of my reading has been about the BBs.
Actually it's a way around the Montreux Convention. Aircraft carriers are not allowed through the Dardanelles. By classifying their ships as cruisers, albeit ones with a lot of airplanes onboard, the Soviet Union was able to get around the restrictions.