Kiev-class aircraft carrier

The ''Kiev'' class, Soviet designation Project 1143 ''Krechyet'' (gyrfalcon), was the first class of both fixed-wing aircraft carriers (heavy aircraft cruiser in Soviet classification) built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy.

History

Laid down in 1970, the first ship of the class, ''Kiev'', was partially based on a design for a full-deck carrier proposed in Project Orel. Originally the Soviet Navy wanted a supercarrier similar to the American. However, the smaller ''Kiev''-class design was chosen because it was considered more cost-effective.

Unlike most NATO aircraft carriers, such as U.S. or most British ones, the ''Kiev'' class is a combination of both a cruiser and an aircraft carrier. In the Soviet Navy, this class of ships was specifically designated as a "heavy aviation cruiser" (russian: Тяжелые авианесущие крейсера) rather than solely as an aircraft carrier. This designation allowed the ships to transit the Turkish Straits, while the 1936 Montreux Convention prohibited aircraft carriers heavier than 15,000 tons from passing through the Straits.

The ships were designed with a large island superstructure to starboard, with an angled flight-deck 2/3rds of the length of the total deck; the foredeck was taken up with heavy surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missile armament. The intended mission of the ''Kiev'' class was support for strategic missile submarines, other surface ships and naval aviation; it was capable of engaging in anti-aircraft, anti-submarine, and surface warfare.

The Soviet Union built and commissioned a total of four ''Kiev''-class carriers, which served in the Soviet and then the Russian navies. The first two ships were sold to China as museums, and the third ship was scrapped. The fourth ship, , was sold to the Indian Navy in 2004, and after years of extensive modifications and refurbishment, is currently in active service as .

General characteristics

* Designer: Nevskoye Planning and Design Bureau
* Builder: Nikolayev South (formerly Chernomorsky Shipyard 444)
* Power plant: 8 turbopressurized boilers, 4 steam turbines (200,000 shp), four shafts
* Length: overall ( for ''Baku'' subgroup)
* Flight Deck Width:
* Beam:
* Displacement: 43,000–45,500 metric tons full load
* Speed:
* Aircraft: 26–30
** 12–13 Yak-38 VSTOL
** 14–17 Ka-25 or Ka-27/29 helicopters
* Crew: 1,200–1,600 (including air wing)
* Armament:
** ''Kiev'' and ''Minsk'':
*** 4 × twin P-500 Bazalt SSM launchers (8 missiles)
*** 2 × twin M-11 Shtorm SAM launchers (72 missiles)
*** 2 × twin 9K33 Osa launchers (40 missiles)
*** 2 × AK-726 twin 76.2 mm AA guns
*** 8 × AK-630 30 mm CIWS
*** 10 × 21" torpedo tubes
*** 1 × twin SUW-N-1 FRAS Anti-Submarine Rocket launcher
** ''Novorossiysk'':
*** 4 × twin P-500 Bazalt SSM launchers (8 missiles)
*** 2 × twin M-11 Shtorm SAM launchers (72 missiles)
*** 2 × AK-726 twin 76.2 mm AA guns
*** 8 × AK-630 30 mm CIWS
*** 1 × twin SUW-N-1 FRAS Anti-Submarine Rocket launcher
** ''Baku'':
*** 6 × twin P-500 Bazalt SSM launchers (12 missiles)
*** 24 × 8-cell 9K330 Tor vertical SAM launchers (192 missiles)
*** 2 × 100 mm guns
*** 8 × AK-630 30 mm CIWS
*** 10 × 21" torpedo tubes
*** 2 × RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launchers
* Date deployed: 1975 ( ''Kiev'')

Ships

See also

* Flight deck cruiser
* List of ships of the Soviet Navy
* List of aircraft carriers of Russia and the Soviet Union
* List of ships of Russia by project number

References

External links

Article on the Kiev Class





History of the Kiev


Project 1143 ''Kiev''

{{Aircraft carrier classes in service

Aircraft cruiser classes

Kiev class aircraft carrier