Soviet battlecruiser Kalinin
Encyclopedia
Admiral Nakhimov is the third battlecruiser of the Kirov class
Kirov class battlecruiser
The Kirov-class battlecruiser is a class of nuclear-powered military ships of the Russian Navy, the largest and heaviest surface combatant warships currently in active operation in the world. The Russian designation is heavy nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser...

. In fact, she is not a battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

, but a heavy missile cruiser. However, her size has given her the unofficial designation of a battlecruiser in the mass media of many countries. The ship was known as the Kalinin (Калинин) until 1992.

History

Kalinin was laid down on May 17, 1983 at Baltiysky Naval Shipyard
Baltic Shipyard
The Baltic Shipyard is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia. It is located in Saint Petersburg in the south-western part of the Vasilievsky Island. It is one of the three shipyards active in Saint Petersburg...

, Leningrad, launched on April 25, 1986, commissioned on December 30, 1988 and joined the Northern Fleet on 21 April 1989 though GlobalSecurity noted the cruiser was a Pacific fleet unit. After the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 the cruiser was rarely deployed and by 1999 it was permanently docked in Sevmash awaiting repairs.

Reactivation

In 2006, a decision was made to modernize this ship instead of completing the construction of SSGN Belgorod
Oscar class submarine
The Project 949 and Project 949A Soviet Navy/Russian Navy cruise missile submarines ....

.
Later in 2006, she was undergoing refit at Sevmash
Sevmash
JSC PO Sevmash is a shipbuilding company based in Severodvinsk, a port city on Russia's White Sea. The name Sevmash is an abbreviation of Severnoye Mashinostroitelnoye Predpriyatie , i.e. "Northern Machine-Building Enterprise". Sevmash is the largest shipbuilding enterprise in Russia and today the...

 shipyard in Severodvinsk
Severodvinsk
Severodvinsk is a city in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located in the delta of the Northern Dvina River, west of Arkhangelsk. Administratively, it is incorporated as a town of oblast significance . Municipally, it is incorporated as Severodvinsk Urban Okrug. The city was founded as...

, but was reported finished ahead of schedule and was announced to again be in service with the Northern Fleet. However later reports state that the cruiser has been docked at Sevmash since 1999 without any activity. On October 30, 2008, Russian Navy representatives of the Northern Fleet announced that the first modification on the Nakhimov had been started and that the cruiser would re-join the Russian fleet by 2012. In November 2010 the director of Sevmash
Sevmash
JSC PO Sevmash is a shipbuilding company based in Severodvinsk, a port city on Russia's White Sea. The name Sevmash is an abbreviation of Severnoye Mashinostroitelnoye Predpriyatie , i.e. "Northern Machine-Building Enterprise". Sevmash is the largest shipbuilding enterprise in Russia and today the...

, Nikolai Kalistratov, repeated this statemant confirming that the Russian government had appropriated money for Admiral Nakhimov to be repaired in 2011. However he also said that the funds was insufficient and more was needed to bring the large cruiser back to active service. After finishing repairs the cruiser is to join the Russian Pacific Fleet
Pacific Fleet
A number of countries currently have or previously had an Pacific Fleet in their navies.*United States Pacific Fleet*Pacific Fleet *Pacific Naval Force *British Pacific Fleet...

.

Differences from lead ship

Kalinin was constructed differently from the lead ship of the class. On the forward part of the ship, the twin SS-N-14 ASW missile launcher was replaced with eight SA-N-9 surface to air missile vertical launchers. The forward 30 mm CIWS cannons were replaced by CADS-N-1. On the aft part, a single twin AK-130 130 mm gun, similar to the guns used on Slava and Sovremennyy, was used instead of two 100 mm guns. Near the flight deck, the 30 mm CIWS cannons were replaced by CADS-N-1 and moved to the aft superstructure and replaced with eight SA-N-9 vertical launchers.

External links

  • Kirov Class - Project 1144.2 at GlobalSecurity.org
    GlobalSecurity.org
    GlobalSecurity.org, launched in 2000, is a public policy organization focusing on the fields of defense, space exploration, intelligence, weapons of mass destruction and homeland security...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK