"Kirov " - Kirov Class Battle Cruiser. (Severodvinsk)

 navy, draw only border, nuclear powered cruiser, battlecruiser

Project # 1144.2 Orlan:
NATO Reporting name : Kirov Class Nuclear (guided missile) Cruiser
Oringinally "Киров : Kirov"
Renamed "Адмирал Ушаков : Admiral Ushakov"
(Hull # 090)
In preservation

Laid down 26.03.1974,
launched 27.12.1977,
commissioned 30.12.1980,

renamed from 27.05.1992 - Admiral Ushakov.
Returned to Kirov from 06.2005
In June 2004 the name Admiral Ushakov was transferred to the Sovremenny class destroyer Besstrashny (434), based with the 42nd Missile Ship Division in Severomorsk.

Kirov, the lead ship of her 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 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 U.S. Navy recommissioning the Iowa class. She was named after Sergey Kirov, a Bolshevik hero.

She was laid down in June 1973 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 suffered a reactor accident in the Med in 1990 which was never fully repaired.

She was placed in reserve in 1990 following the reactor accident. Kirov was renamed Admiral Ushakov after the 18th century admiral Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov in 1992 for political reasons. New photos show that it has reverted to its original name. An overhaul was started in 1999, but the ship was written off in 2001 and slated to be dismantled in 2003.

This ship had an 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.

In September 2004 it was revealed that the Severodvinsk-based Design Bureau Onega had been tasked with developing the dismantlement project for the cruiser, moored at the Severdovinsk Zvezdochka plantas shown. According to the Zvezdochka plant, dismantlement of the former Admiral Ushakov would cost $40 million, all of which was allocated by Norway. However according to Novosti last year all three of the currently 'moth-balled' Kirov Class Nuclear Battle-Cruisers Admirals Nahkimov, Lazarev & Ushakov are to be re-fiited and brought back into service by 2020 !

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