Key Points and Summary – After nearly three decades out of service, Russia’s massive Kirov-class nuclear-powered battlecruiser, the Admiral Nakhimov, has finally returned to sea to begin trials.
-The Cold War-era behemoth has undergone one of the most extensive and delayed modernizations in naval history.
-Its striking power has been dramatically increased, with the ship now fitted with Russia’s new Zircon hypersonic missiles, as well as Kalibr and Onyx cruise missiles.
-Plagued by years of setbacks due to sanctions and procurement issues, the reactivated warship now provides a much-needed and powerful modern asset to the Russian Navy.
Russia Deploys Massive Kirov-Class Nuclear Battlecruiser After Almost Thirty Years
Russia’s forty-year-old Kirov-Class nuclear-powered battlecruiser, Admiral Nakhimov, has officially returned to operational service after more than 20 years of upgrades and almost three decades out of service.
The news follows reports earlier this summer that the Cold War-era Kirov-class battlecruiser was being prepared for a return to service, fitted with Russia’s much-hyped Zircon hypersonic missiles.
What We Know
Video footage shared online appears to show the vessel being pulled by a tug in the White Sea, the southern inlet of the Barents Sea off Russia’s northwestern coast. The ship was spotted undergoing factory sea trials – which were recently confirmed by reports from Russian media. Citing an anonymous source in Russia’s shipbuilding industry, TASS reported on August 18 that the nuclear missile cruiser will undergo factory sea trials starting in the White Sea before moving further into the Barents Sea, where it will spend several more months undergoing testing.
The news follows reports from February that both of the cruiser’s nuclear reactors were functional. Russian media reported that one reactor was successfully reactivated in December 2024, while the second became operational in February of this year.
Admiral Nakhimov has undergone some of the most extensive repair and upgrade work in naval history. While repair work on the ship began in 1999, more extensive upgrades to the ship began in 2013. Over the last 12 years, modernization efforts have largely focused on increasing the ship’s striking power. TASS also reports that the cruiser has been fitted with “10 universal shipborne firing systems for 8 Kalibr-NK and/or Onyx cruise missiles each.”
While the refit was expected to take some time, the project has suffered multiple setbacks. After upgrades restarted in the last decade, some analysts and officials suggested that the project could have been wrapped up by 2019.
However, that date was pushed to 2020, and then again to 2021, and later to 2023, and again to 2024.
Kirov-Class Comeback: Bad Idea?
The scale of the battlecruiser’s upgrades was enormous – but delays in recent years have been blamed on Western sanctions and ongoing procurement issues for contractors working on the ship. Sevmash, the only Russian shipyard that produces nuclear submarines, was tasked with completing the project – but insiders say that changes to how Russia procures weapons was the main reason sea trials have been repeatedly delayed.
Speaking to Izvestia, military expert Dmitry Boltenkov noted that the shipyard upgraded or replaced all parts of the vessel except the hull – and was left with the monumental task of working with a “huge number of suppliers of combat systems and weapons” amid Western sanctions that made foreign procurement difficult.
“But now in our country we have to substitute what used to be imported,” Boltenkov said, adding that parts that may previously have been sourced from the West were eventually built domestically.
Despite the prolonged setbacks, however, the Admiral Nakhimov is finally back at sea – giving Russia a much-needed and modernized warship to fill the gap left by the aging Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier whose future remains uncertain after its own upgrade program was reportedly suspended indefinitely.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
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