Key Points and Summary – The return of the Russian battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov, after 26 years in refit, does not signify a significant change in naval capability, but rather symbolizes the decline of industrial capabilities.
-Its primary role will likely be symbolic “show-the-flag” cruises, not high-end combat.
Kirov-Class Russian Navy Cleaned Up. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-However, its status as a high-profile emblem of Russian power raises a provocative new question: Could it become a target for Ukraine’s daring special operators, similar to past attacks on the Nordstream pipeline or Russian bomber bases?
-It is dangerous to underestimate what “creative Ukrainians” might attempt.
The Return of Admiral Nahkimov: Russia’s Kirov-Class Nuclear Battlecruiser
After 26 years in reserve and refit, it appears that the Russian battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov may be nearing a return to service. The ship has left port for the first time in decades, and her nuclear reactors are evidently active.
The return of the Nakhimov does not mark a major change in Russian naval capabilities, but she will give the Russian Navy added ability to fulfill the missions that it has pursued in the post-Cold War era.
Description
The third of the Kirov class, the ship at the time called Kalinin was laid down in 1983 and commissioned in 1988, shortly before the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Displacing 28,000 tons, she could make 31 knots on a combination of nuclear power and conventional boilers.
Intended to threaten U.S. carrier battle groups, the Kirovs carried an impressive armament of anti-air and anti-surface weapons, the latter including twenty P-700 Granit missile launchers. These were optimized to defeat the air-defense systems of NATO battlegroups.
Kalinin was renamed Admiral Nakhimov in 1992, trading a Bolshevik revolutionary for a Crimean War naval hero.
Modernization of Kirov-Class Battlecruiser
The Admiral Nakhimov served in the Soviet Northern Fleet until the dissolution of the USSR. Her tempo of operations was radically reduced after the collapse, and she was placed in full reserve in 1999. In 2006, as Russia’s financial situation recovered, the Russian Navy decided to restore the Admiral Nakhimov to service.
She joined her sister ship, the Pyotr Velikiy, as the centerpieces of the fleet. The modernization was supposed to be complete by 2012.
However, the modernization was not complete in 2012; it took until 2022. Stops and starts along the way reflected uncertainty about whether it made any sense to rehabilitate an aging battlecruiser, along with hiccups in funding and in the shipyard workforce.
From time to time, the refurbishment seemed like more of a joke than a serious project, although the fact that the Pyotr Velikiy remained in service confirmed Russian interest in continuing to operate a nuclear battlecruiser.
Kirov-Class Battlecruiser Russian Navy. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The modernization process of the Admiral Nakhimov was intended to bring her up to modern standards in terms of offensive and defensive capabilities, as well as electronic systems. Her on-deck missile launchers were to be replaced by a whopping 174 vertical launch system cells, 80 of which would carry anti-surface missiles, and 96 reserved for anti-aircraft missiles.
Her radars and electronic warfare systems were also to be modernized. We do not yet have concrete information regarding how many of these intended refits were completed.
Meaning
An expensive modernization for a large surface warship is relatively unusual these days, mostly because the cost of updating an old hull often matches or exceeds the cost of building a new one.
However, the health of the Russian shipbuilding industry has decayed to the extent that it is uncertain whether Russia could hope to build a replacement vessel at a reasonable cost. Given the extensive service of the Pyotr Velikiy, Russia risked losing a tool of naval influence if it did not complete the Nakhimov’s refit.
The Admiral Nakhimov will most likely take over the role the Pyotr Velikiy played over the last two decades. During that time, the Pyotr Velikiy has performed a wide variety of show-the-flag and naval-prestige missions around the world.
These included long cruises to the Mediterranean and to the Americas, demonstrating that Russia’s navy still had global reach. The Pyotr Velikiy’s only combat deployment involved support of the carrier Admiral Kuznetsov during the Syrian Civil War, but she was nevertheless regarded as an important vessel for demonstrating Russian presence and interest.
Kirov-Class Russian Navy. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Target?
The return to service of the Admiral Nakhimov triggers an obvious question: What could and would Ukraine do about this symbol of Russian naval power?
The Admiral Nakhimov will not operate near Ukraine at any point in the near future. Indeed, the Kirov-class battlecruisers have never served any significant time in the friendly confines of the Black Sea, where their long-range-strike and area-defense capabilities would have been wasted. In any case, there is little chance that Turkey would allow the ship to transit the Dardanelles during wartime.
But this is not the end of the story. Over the course of the Russia-Ukraine War, Ukrainian special operators have conducted brazen attacks against targets in Russia and at sea. The destruction of the Nordstream 2 pipeline is most likely the result of a Ukrainian team, just as drone attacks conceived and launched by Ukrainians destroyed a significant number of Russian Tu-95 bombers on the ground.
In this context it is hardly impossible that Ukraine might conceive of some kind of operation to damage or destroy the Nakhimov. The transportation of Unmanned Surface Vehicles to the White Sea seems like a tough haul, but it might be possible. An operation similar to Spider’s Web could attack the ship with aerial drones. It is perhaps too much to expect from Ukraine, but it is dangerous to underestimate the capabilities of committed, creative Ukrainians.
Russian Navy Kirov-class Battlecruiser. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
What Happens Next to the Russian Navy?
The Russian surface navy has taken a beating since Russia invaded Ukraine. In addition to the losses inflicted by the Ukrainians on the Black Sea Fleet, the rest of the navy has suffered from a general inability to contribute to a conflict that has come to dominate Russia’s strategic horizons. Recently, the Admiral Kuznetsov – the only aircraft carrier in the Russian fleet – was permanently decommissioned, with her crew transferred to duties in the Ukraine theater of operations.
The rehabilitation of a 40-year-old battlecruiser may not seem like much, but it does show a continuing commitment by the Kremlin to some kind of surface navy. Nakhimov will lead what’s left of the Russian fleet into a post-Ukraine environment in which Russian ports are cut off and Russian warships are hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed on the high seas.
About the Author: Dr. Robert Farley, University of Kentucky
Dr. Robert Farley has taught security and diplomacy courses at the Patterson School since 2005. He received his BS from the University of Oregon in 1997, and his Ph. D. from the University of Washington in 2004. Dr. Farley is the author of Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force (University Press of Kentucky, 2014), the Battleship Book (Wildside, 2016), Patents for Power: Intellectual Property Law and the Diffusion of Military Technology (University of Chicago, 2020), and most recently Waging War with Gold: National Security and the Finance Domain Across the Ages (Lynne Rienner, 2023). He has contributed extensively to a number of journals and magazines, including the National Interest, the Diplomat: APAC, World Politics Review, and the American Prospect. Dr. Farley is also a founder and senior editor of Lawyers, Guns and Money.
Military Affairs
China’s Stealth Air Force Has 1 Mission
taco
August 21, 2025 at 7:17 pm
Unlikely.
One shot at the cruiser and the reply from Moscow would be nothing less than a tactical nuke straight at kyiv.
Perhaps that could actually end the war in Donbass today.
Meanwhile, an Ukrainian man has just been arrested in connection with the Sept 2022 nord stream explosions.
Previously, various western media outlets, perhaps at the prodding of the state dept then headed by blinken, had directly blamed Moscow for the blasts.
Maybe, now, Putin has a very good excuse to blow up the nazis.
In revenge for the nord stream action. Time for some real he-man ACTION !
Pingback: Return of the Big 'Uns - Lawyers, Guns & Money