Kiev-class aircraft carrier

The Kiev class, Soviet designation Project 1143 Krechyet (gyrfalcon), was the first class of 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 Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier, but 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" (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 two-thirds 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 ballistic missile submarines, other surface ships, and naval aviation; it was capable of engaging in antiaircraft, antisubmarine, 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, SOVIET AIRCRAFT CARRIER Admiral Gorshkov, was sold to the Indian Navy in 2004, and after years of extensive modifications and refurbishment, is currently in active service as INS Vikramaditya.

General characteristics

 * Designer: Nevskoye Planning and Design Bureau
 * Builder: Nikolayev South (formerly Chernomorsky Shipyard 444)
 * Power plant: eight turbopressurized boilers, four steam turbines (200,000 shp), four shafts
 * Length: 273 m overall [283 m for Baku subgroup]
 * Flight deck width: 53 m
 * Beam: 32.6 m
 * Displacement: 43,000–45,500 metric tons full load
 * Speed: 32 kn
 * 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 close-in weapon system (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 antisubmarine 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 antisubmarine rocket launchers
 * Date deployed: 1975 (Kiev)