Russian battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy

History
Russia
NamePyotr Velikiy
NamesakePeter the Great
BuilderBaltic Shipyard, designer Severnoe PKB
Laid down1986
Launched1996
Commissioned18 April 1998
DecommissionedMay be retired when sister ship Admiral Nakhimov comes back into service
Statusin active service
NotesFlagship of the Russian Northern Fleet
General characteristics
Class and typeKirov-class battlecruiser
Displacement
  • 24,300 tons (standard)
  • 28,000 tons (full load)
Length
  • 252 m (827 ft)
  • 230 m (750 ft) (waterline)
Beam28.5 m (94 ft)
Draft9.1 m (30 ft)
Installed power140,000 shp (100,000 kW)
Propulsion2-shaft, nuclear propulsion with steam turbine boost
Speed32 knots (59 km/h)
Range
  • 1,000 nautical miles (1,850 km) at 30 knots (56 km/h) (combined propulsion),
  • Essentially unlimited with nuclear power at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement
  • 727
  • Aircrew: 18
  • Flag staff: 15
Sensors and
processing systems
  • Voskhod MR-800 (Top Pair) 3D search radar on foremast
  • Fregat MR-710 (Top Plate) 3D search radar on main mast
  • 2 × MR-320M Topaz-V/Strut Pair air/surface search radar on main mast
  • 3 × Palm Frond navigation radar on foremast
  • 1 × aft Top Dome for SA-N-6 fire control
  • 1 × forward Tomb Stone (Passive electronically scanned array)
  • 1 × MR-360 Podkat/Cross Sword SA-N-9 SAM control
  • 6 × 3P37/Hot Flash SA-N-11 SAM control
  • 1 × MR-184/Kite Screech for 130mm guns
  • Horse Jaw LF hull sonar
  • Horse Tail VDS (Variable Depth Sonar)
Armament
Armour76 mm plating around reactor compartment, light splinter protection
Aircraft carried3 × Kamov Ka-27 "Helix" or Ka-25 "Hormone" helicopters
Aviation facilitiesBelow-deck hangar

Pyotr Velikiy (Russian: Пётр Великий) is the fourth Kirov-class battlecruiser of the Russian Navy. She was initially named Yuri Andropov (Russian: Юрий Андропов) after Yuri Andropov, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party, but the ship's name was changed after the fall of the Soviet Union. The Russian designation for the type is "heavy nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser", but Western defense commentators have resurrected the term "battlecruiser" to describe them, as they are the largest surface "line of battle" warships in the world. Pyotr Velikiy is the flagship of the Northern Fleet.

Construction of the ship was delayed by lack of funding due to the national economic problems before and after the fall of the Soviet Union. She was not completed and commissioned until 1998, twelve years after work had started. By then she had been renamed Pyotr Velikiy, Russian for Peter the Great. Pyotr Velikiy has been known to carry two pennant numbers during her service: "183" and currently "099".