To most naval history buffs, the term “battlecruiser” evokes thoughts of warships of a bygone era, an era that ended with World War II and was arguably most famously represented by the pride of Britain’s Royal Navy at the time, the HMS Hood (Pennant No. 51). To Star Trek fans, meanwhile, the term is more likely to conjure up the image of a fearsome future spaceship that enforces the will of the Klingon Empire.

Whether one chooses to interpret it as a throwback to the past or as going “Back to the Future” (sorry, I couldn’t resist using a second sci-fi franchise reference here), the only remaining nation in the world using battlecruisers is Russia. Say “Privyet (Hello)” to the Kirov-class battlecruisers.

What Exactly Is a Battlecruiser?

For present-day contextual purposes, the Naval Encyclopedia roughly defines “battlecruiser” thusly:

“If the term ‘battlecruiser’ is frequently use by historians to describe them, both official records and NATO designations only mentions ‘heavy missile cruisers’. The only ship for the USN that could roughly match this was the unique 1960 USS Long Beach, matching its superior radar and command capabilities, nuclear power, but its missile armament and overall displacement and size did not matched [sic] the Soviet ships. None of the subsequent cruiser [sic] ever arrived close, especially not the almiost [sic]-contemporary Ticonderoga class, which were more destroyers with more advanced capabilities. The last true USN cruisers were the West Virginias in the 1970s. They were half the tonnage of a Kirov.”

From there, we get some early history in addition to technical context:

“Heavy nuclear missile cruisers of project 1144 ‘Orlan’—a series of Soviet/Russian multi-purpose steam/nuclear (CONAS) guided missile cruisers for oceanic operations and fleet coordination, built at the Baltic Shipyard from 1973 to 1996: Kirov, Admiral Lazarev, Admiral Nakhimov and Peter the Great. Chief designer was B. I. Kupensky. The end design became the largest and most powerful non-aircraft carrier combat surface ships with nuclear power plant [sic] in the world, and record holder in terms of armament. According to NATO classification, the project received soon the term “battlecruiser” due to its huge size, armor and powerful armament, but it still remained a ‘large missile cruiser’ in the Soviet inventory. As of 2020, only one, Peter the Great is operational, while ‘Admiral Nakhimov’ is under modernization, expected completion in late 2023.”

Kirov-Class Battlecruiser Additional Early History and Specifications

As already indicated, the Kirov—named for Bolshevik revolutionary and Joseph Stalin toady Sergei Mironovich Kirov (March 27, 1886—December 1, 1934) —was the lead ship of the class laid down on March 27, 1974, launched on December 26, 1977, and commissioned on December 30, 1980 (coincidentally a mere three weeks of the inauguration of U.S President Ronald Wilson Reagan, who would initiate a foreign policy that would accelerate the collapse of the Soviet Union).

The Kirov and her sister ships bore/bear the following specifications and vital stats:

• Displacement: 28,000 tons fully laden
• Hull length: 252 m (827 ft)
• Beam Width: 28.5 m (94 ft))
• Draft: 9.1 m (30 ft)
• Propulsion: 2-shaft CONAS, nuclear propulsion with steam turbine boost; 140,000 shp
• Max speed: 32 knots (59 km/h; 36 mph)
• Crew Complement: 727 core crew of commissioned officers and enlisted sailors; eighteen aircrew, fifteen flagstaff
• Armament:    
  
  • 2 × AK-100 100 mm (3.9 in)/L60 DP guns.
  • 8 × AK-630 hex Gatling 30 mm/L60 PD guns            
  • twenty P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) antiship missiles
  • 12 × 8 (96) SA-N-6 Grumble (S-300PMU) surface-to-air missiles (SAMs)

NOTE: For the basis of comparison & contrast, World War II battlecruiser HMS Hood had a hull length of 860 ft 7 in (262.3 m), a displacement of 47,430 tons, and packed a main armament of eight 15-in (381 mm) guns and a secondary armament of fourteen 4-inch (102 mm) guns.

Operational History and Current Performance Issues

The Kirovs were originally conceived to counter the U.S. Navy’s submarines with its large payload of SS-N-14 anti-submarine missiles, and were later intended to operate alongside prospective nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for global power projection—but that never came to fruition (and we all know what a sick joke the Russians’ lone aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, has turned out to be). Meanwhile, in a classic example of the Law of Unintended Consequences, the commissioning of the Kirovs spurred the U.S. Navy into recommissioning its Iowa-class battleships (true, old-school battleships with the 16-inch guns to prove it).

The Kirov class has turned out to have a pretty inauspicious past and present. My colleague Brandon J. Weichert elaborates in a September 13, 2024 article for The National Interest titled “Russia’s Kirov-Class Nuclear-Powered Battlecruiser ‘Has Outlived Its Usefulness’”:

“The Kirov-class battlecruisers played a major role in the Cold War, projecting Soviet power in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Their operational history has been marred by several incidents and accidents, including the accidental explosion of the Kirov’s nuclear reactor in 1990, which, naturally, led to its decommissioning … Due to their age and operational limitations, these warships have seen limited deployment in recent years, reducing their overall utility to the Russian Navy—especially in a time of war. Russia needs every platform it can get. The Kirov-class battlecruiser simply doesn’t deliver.”

About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch , The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS).

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