Soviet battlecruiser Kirov

"Kirov", the lead ship of the eponymous class of missile cruisers, is one of the major and biggest surface warships of the Russian Navy, though it was originally built for the Soviet Navy. It is one of the biggest warships of the world and is similar in size to a World War I battleship. Although commissioned as a missile cruiser "Kirov"'s size and weapons complement have given her the unofficial designation of a battlecruiser throughout much of the world. The appearance of the "Kirov" class was a significant factor in the US Navy recommissioning the "Iowa" class.Fact|date=December 2007 She was named after Sergey Kirov, a Bolshevik hero.

History

She was laid down in June 1973Fact|date=December 2007 or March 27 1974 at the Baltiysky Naval Shipyard in Leningrad, launched on December 26 1977 and commissioned on December 30 1980, part of Soviet Northern Fleet. When she appeared for the first time in 1981, NATO observers called her BALCOM I (Baltic Combatant I). She was placed in reserve in 1990 following a reactor accident.GlobalSecurity.org [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/1144-list.htm Project 1144.2 Orlan Kirov class Guided Missile Cruiser (Nuclear Powered) ship list] ] "Kirov" was renamed "Admiral Ushakov" after the 18th Century admiral Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov in 1992 for political reasons. An overhaul was started in 1999, but the ship was written off in 2001 and slated to be dismantled in 2003.

Armament

This ship had 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. "Kirov"'s main weapons are 20 × P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) missiles mounted on deck, designed to engage large surface targets, and air defense is provided for with 12 × S-300F (SA-N-6) launchers with 96 missiles, 2 × Osa-M (SA-N-4 Gecko) with 40 missiles and the Kashtan air-defence missile/gun system.

Other weapons are the automatic 130 mm AK-130 gun system, 30 mm AK-630, 10 × torpedo/missile tubes, Udav-1 (SS-N-14 Silex) with 40 anti-submarine rockets and the 2 × RBU-1000 six-tube launchers.

Fate

"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.

In June 2004 the name "Admiral Ushakov" was transferred to the Sovremenny class destroyer "Besstrashny". In September 2004 it was revealed that the Severodvinsk-based Design Bureau Onega had been tasked with developing the dismantlement project for the cruiser, currently moored at the Severdovinsk Zvezdochka plant. According to the Zvezdochka plant, dismantlement of the former "Admiral Ushakov" would cost $40 million, all of which was allocated by Norway. [GlobalSecurity.org [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/1144.htm Project 1144.2 Orlan - Kirov class - Guided Missile Cruiser (Nuclear Powered) - class article] .]

In Fiction

The Kirov is mentioned in the BBC drama 'Threads' in which it is described as being in collision with the US destroyer USS "Callaghan" in the lead up to a nuclear war.

In Tom Clancy's 1986 novel, "Red Storm Rising", the "Kirov" is sunk by the Norwegian submarine HNoMS "Kobben".

ee also

*Kirov for other uses.
*Soviet cruiser Kirov, a Kirov class cruiser, lead ship of a Soviet 1930-1940s class of conventional cruisers.
*Admiral Ushakov (warship) for other ships named for Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov.

References