Admiral Nakhimov nuclear-powered cruiser
© RIA Novosti. Oleg Lastochkin
Posted on 01/27/2014 5:50:33 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
MOSCOW, January 24 (RIA Novosti) – The refit of one of Russia’s four heavy nuclear-powered missile cruisers has begun after years of delays, the country’s largest shipbuilder said Friday.
The work on the Admiral Nakhimov will revamp its firepower and set the stage for the revitalization of the Russian Navy’s capital ships, which have not been modernized in the post-Soviet era.
The vessel, formerly named the Kalinin, is one of four Kirov-class missile cruisers, the largest surface combat ships in operation with any navy. Only one of the ships, the Pyotr Veliky, is operational, but Russia plans to return the other three to service starting with the Admiral Nakhimov in 2018.
Russia also has a single aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, currently deployed in the Mediterranean.
Sevmash shipyard said in a statement that the schedule for work on the cruiser this year has already been drawn up.
Heavy equipment is now being removed in order to lighten the ship so it can be moved from its berth into the dockyard with the aid of specially constructed pontoons, Sevmash said.
The shipyard earlier said that the cruiser would be equipped with P-800 Oniks (SS-N-26) supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, air defense missiles based on the S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) and close-in weapons systems, which are designed to shoot down missiles and aircraft approaching the ship.
The refit will build on the shipyard's success of overhauling the Kiev-class aircraft carrier Baku, re-commissioned for India as the Vikramaditya in November.
That job, however, faced fewer difficulties since the Vikramaditya lacked a nuclear reactor and had fewer weapons systems.
The Admiral Nakhimov, the third ship in the Kirov class, was laid down by the Soviet Union in 1982, commissioned in 1989 and has sat mothballed at Sevmash since 1999.
Admiral Nakhimov nuclear-powered cruiser
© RIA Novosti. Oleg Lastochkin
IMHO, these ships are incredible waste of money.
“Targets.”
Yamato comes to mind.
I remember Tom Clancy commenting on a tour of a Russian warship.
He said the gun turrets had so many coats of paint on them, they likely couldn’t rotate into firing position.
Anchor and chain suppliers are celebrating.
Perhaps that's the real message here - they can afford it. Just as we could in the '80s, when the Reagan administration refit and re-activated the Iowa-class battleships as a response to these very same Russian (then Soviet) missile cruisers.
Plus, they're handsome ships. There is still some value in having a potent-looking surface combatant when there's a need to "show the flag".
During the last decade of the cold war these Kirov-class ships were considered real threats to our battlegroups. There were never many of them but we always kept track of where each one was... Now, unless they have some very new and effective ship killing armament, they’ll mostly serve as trophys for the national leadership.
He said the gun turrets had so many coats of paint on them, they likely couldn’t rotate into firing position.
I believe that the US Navy had that problem at Pearl Harbor and discovered that paint burns. Multiple layers means more to burn.
Yeah like the supersonic anti ship missile. But really is cheaper just to air burst a nuke over a carrier battle group if it comes to that.
Chinese DF-21D Carrier Killer. Ballistic missile nuke reentry from steep angles. Damned hard to detect/defeat.
The Russians know how to design a warship or airplane to look good. The Kirov class has always been a thing of grace and beauty..............
hey, paint holds things together! /s
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