In the context of a recent press conference, the current CEO of the Russian company JSC PO Sevmash, Mikhail A. Budnichenko, announced that the modernized nuclear-powered cruiser Admiral Nakhimov of the Russian Navy has completed its first factory sea trials, marking a significant milestone in the program it is undergoing. This represents a major achievement for the process, as prior to the series of tests completed yesterday, the ship had been unable to sail for more than twenty years, particularly considering the numerous delays that resulted in its modernization only beginning in 2014.
Quoting Budnichenko’s remarks on the vessel: “We have successfully completed the first stage of sea trials of the Project 11442M cruiser Admiral Nakhimov. It should be noted that it is currently on its third sea trial, and it is scheduled to return to base (Ed.: Severodvinsk) on the 25th of this month. We are already celebrating, but the ship continues sailing with its crew and our team of technicians, carrying out tasks of great importance.”
It is useful to recall at this point that the Admiral Nakhimov is the last surviving unit of the four Kirov-class cruisers as of today, noting that the construction of a fifth unit was canceled by the Russian Navy. In detail, the cruisers Admiral Ushakov and Admiral Lazarev are already out of service and have been slated for dismantling and disposal of radioactive material from their nuclear reactors. Meanwhile, the cruiser Pyotr Velikiy is also expected to follow a similar path, as the Navy has been unable to successfully carry out its modernization due to the high associated costs.
Returning to what was mentioned earlier, it is also worth recalling that Admiral Nakhimov, originally commissioned into the former Soviet Navy in 1988, has been awaiting the completion of its modernization since 1997. At that time, Moscow arranged for its transfer to the aforementioned town of Severodvinsk on the shores of the White Sea, facing a wide range of technical and financial obstacles in achieving tangible progress—evidenced by the fact that work effectively began only in 2014 and that the first sea trials are taking place more than a decade later.
On the other hand, if we briefly review the main objective of the problematic modernization process referred to above, it is clear that the intention has been to significantly increase the cruiser’s available armament. In particular, the Russian Navy sought to equip the ship with up to 174 vertical launch system cells, enabling it to carry a wide range of missiles and thus surpassing various Western and Chinese counterparts; by way of comparison, this number exceeds the 122 cells of a U.S. Ticonderoga-class cruiser or the 112 cells of a Chinese Type 055.
Furthermore, a broad array of air defense capabilities has been added to the ship to meet the requirements of modern combat, where the use of drones has become increasingly frequent. As previously reported, the cruiser is now reportedly equipped with new Fort-M and Pantsyr-M air defense systems for this purpose. In addition, the ship’s main guns have been replaced, with the older dual AK-130 systems substituted by the more modern AK-192M, both of 130 mm caliber.
Images used for illustrative purposes.
You may also like: With the arrival of the Kilo II-class submarine “Krasnodar,” Russia continues to strengthen its military cooperation ties with Algeria
