The heavy nuclear missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, which is undergoing overhaul in Severodvinsk at Sevmash will return to sea and the Russian Navy order of battle in 2012. K1R Igor' Golovchenko, the commander of surface forces at the Belomorskiy Navy Base, said that the overhaul has dragged on for 10 years because of a lack of funding. "Just this year the financial issue has stabilized and we have been able to start on operation number one - the de-fueling of the nuclear reactors", Golovchenko added. He said that the spent nuclear fuel has already been unloaded from one of the two reactors.
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The USSR built four Project 1144.2 ships - the Admiral Ushakov, the Admiral Lazarev, the Admiral Nakhimov and the Peter the Great. Only the last two remain. The Admiral Ushakov entered Severodvinsk in 1999 for modernization, which began in 2003. Meanwhile, in 2008 it was decided to scrap her. The Admiral Lazarev was put in conservation status in Strelok Bay in 2005. However, at the same time, the Peter the Great remains not only the most powerful cruiser in the Russian Navy, but in the whole world.
Comment: I guess they actually accomplished what they set out to do back in May. Good for them.
4 comments:
Any thoughts on which fleet the Admiral Nakhimov will be deployed to? My own guess is the Pacific Fleet because it's the second largest, but a wildcard might be the Black Sea Fleet.
deploying it to the Black Sea would be retarded, why deploy a ship with 600km+ ranged cruise missiles there? The Slava Cruiser Moskva is overkill as it is. I think it will be deployed in the Pacific, barring that then the Northern Fleet.
The reason I suggested sending it to the Black Sea is because that's an area where Russia recently fought a war, where the US has been deploying warships now on a regular basis, and where there is still tension. I agree that sending an ocean-going vessel like the Admiral Nakhimov to the Black Sea doesn't make much sense, but if you wanted to demonstrate to interested parties e.g. the Ukrainians and the Georgians, who the military superpower is in that area, why not?
You're right in that it would serve as a good demonstration to the neighboring countries. However, the Moskva can already probably sink every ship in the Black Sea from port with her 16 Vulkan missiles. If they want to have a large ship in the Black Sea Fleet for the "dont screw with us" effect, use the Moskva.
Imo a new modernised Nakhimov would be too much of a waste used in that purpose. Hell, maybe they can tow the Frunze hull from Vladivostok to the Black Sea and park it in Sevastopol, just for effect :-)
On that note, how sweet would it be if Russia overhauled the Frunze as well, resulting in 3 Kirov class cruisers operational. Thats what dreams are made of.
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