Kirov Class Battlecruiser - Deployment

Deployment

The lead ship, Kirov (renamed Admiral Ushakov in 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union) was laid down in June 1973 at Leningrad's Baltiysky Naval Shipyard, launched on December 27, 1977 and commissioned on December 30, 1980. When she appeared for the first time in 1981, NATO observers called her BALCOM I (Baltic Combatant I).

Kirov suffered a reactor accident in 1990 while serving in the Mediterranean Sea. Repairs were never carried out, due to lack of funds and the changing political situation in the Soviet Union. She may have been cannibalized as a spare parts cache for the other ships in her class.

In 1983 a command and control ship, the SSV-33 command ship Ural was launched, although the ship would not be officially commissioned until 1989. It utilized the basic hull design of the Kirov-class vessels, but with a modified superstructure, different armament, and was intended for a different role within the Soviet Navy. The Ural was decommissioned and laid up in 2001, due to high operating costs.

Frunze, the second vessel in the class, was commissioned in 1984. She was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. In 1992, she was renamed Admiral Lazarev. The ship became inactive in 1994 and was decommissioned four years later. The ship is currently held in reserve. On 19 September 2009, General Popovkin, Deputy MOD for Armaments, said that the MOD is looking into bringing Lazarev back into service.

Kalinin was the third ship to enter service, in 1988. She was also assigned to the Northern Fleet. Renamed Admiral Nakhimov, she was mothballed in 1999 and reactivated in 2005. She is in overhaul at Severodvinsk Shipyard.

Construction of the fourth ship, Yuriy Andropov, encountered many delays; her construction was started in 1986 but was not commissioned until 1998. She was renamed Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great) in 1992. The ship currently serves as the flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet.

On March 23, 2004, English language press reported that the Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief, Fleet Admiral Vladimir Kuroedov said Pyotr Veliky's reactor was in an extremely bad condition and could explode "at any moment". Russian language reporting actually said that the condition of the propulsion plant was such that it could get worse at any moment. This statement was later withdrawn and Russian sensationalist press speculated it may have been the result of internal politics within the Russian Navy, alleging that Admiral Igor Kasatonov was the uncle of Pyotr Veliky's commanding officer, Vladimir Kasatonov), who was testifying in the court hearings on the losses of K-159 and Kursk.

The ship was sent to port for a month, and the crew lost one-third of their pay. Examinations found no problems with the ship's reactor.

A fifth Kirov-class cruiser was planned; originally named Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov or alternatively reported as Dzerzhinsky, the ship was never laid down. The name was later changed to Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya (October Revolution), and then just Kuznetsov,; finally, on 4 October 1990, the project for a fifth ship was scrapped.