Kirov class battlecruiser Totally Explained

Everything about Kirov Class Battlecruiser totally explained

The Kirov class battlecruisers are the largest and most powerful surface combatant warships in the Russian Navy and the world. Originally built for the Soviet Navy, in Russia they're 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. It is more appropriate to consider Kirov an oversized guided missile cruiser, analogous to the U.S. Navy Alaska-class large cruiser, which had the displacement and armament of a battlecruiser but otherwise was closer to a heavy cruiser in mission and construction. Soviet and Russian naval analysts always referred to it as a "large missile cruiser." The appearance of the Kirov class played a role in the recommissioning of the Iowa class battleships.
The Kirov hull design was used for the nuclear-powered command ship SSV-33.

Armament

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 × P-700 Granit (SS-N-19) Shipwreck missiles mounted on deck, designed to engage large surface targets, and air defense is provided by 12 × 8 S-300F launchers with 96 missiles and 2 × 20 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 subsequent 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 Kashtan (CADS-N-1) 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.

Deployment

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 wasn't 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 Oktybrskaya Revolutsiya (October Revolution), and then Kuznetsov, and later scrapped while incomplete.

Description

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)

Units

Original Ship Name	Renamed	Commissioned	Status
Kirov	Admiral Ushakov	December 30, 1980	Inactive since early 1990s. Slated for scrapping
Frunze	Admiral Lazarev	October 31 1984	Decommissioned in 1997
Kalinin	Admiral Nakhimov	December 30 1988	Undergoing repairs at Sevmash since 1999. Completed ahead of schedule in 2005, returned to active service in the Northern fleet.
Yuri Andropov	Pyotr Velikiy	April 18 1998	Active
Dzerzhinsky	Kuznetzov	Cancelled	Never finished

Further Information

Get more info on 'Kirov Class Battlecruiser'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://kirov_class_battlecruiser.totallyexplained.com">Kirov class battlecruiser Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.