Kirov c.1983
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History | |
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→ Soviet Union → Russia | |
Name | Kirov |
Namesake | |
Builder | Baltiysky Naval Shipyard, Leningrad |
Laid down | 27 March 1974 |
Launched | 26 December 1977 |
Commissioned | 30 December 1980 |
Out of service | In reserve, 1990 |
Renamed | Admiral Ushakov, 1992 |
Status | Laid-up, to be scrapped. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Kirov-class battlecruiser |
Displacement | 24,300 tons Standard, 28,000 (Full load) |
Length |
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Beam | 28.5 m (94 ft) |
Draft | 9.1 m (30 ft) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 32 knots (59 km/h) |
Range |
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Complement |
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Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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Armour | 76 mm plating around reactor compartment, light splinter protection |
Aircraft carried | 3 Kamov Ka-27 "Helix" or Ka-25 "Hormone" |
Aviation facilities | Below-deck hangar |
Kirov is the lead ship of the Kirov class of nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers. Originally built for the Soviet Navy and passed onto the succeeding Russian Navy, she and her three sister ships are the largest and heaviest surface combatant warships (i.e. not an aircraft carrier or amphibious assault ship) built by them. The Soviet classification of the ship-type is "heavy nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser" (Russian: тяжёлый атомный ракетный крейсер), nonetheless Kirov's size and weapons complement have earned her the unofficial designation of a battlecruiser throughout much of the world, as her size and displacement is similar to a typical World War I battleship. The appearance of the Kirov class was a significant factor in the U.S. Navy recommissioning the Iowa class.[1] She was named after a Project 26 cruiser (named after Sergey Kirov, a Bolshevik hero).