Janes: Bringing Back the Kirovs

I came across this Janes article and I began wondering what exactly would be the point. Then I remembered the US Navy has recently been discussing building their own 24,000+ ton battlecruiers, and Russia already has some...

The Russian Federation Navy (RFN) is to reactivate two laid-up Kirov-class (Project 1144) battle cruisers, according to statements attributed by Russian media to the country's deputy defence minister.

Colonel General Vladimir Popovkin reportedly said that the Ministry of Defence has decided to renovate and modernise its heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser (tiazhyeliy atomniy raketniy kreiser/TARK) units Admiral Lazarev (ex- Frunze ) and Admiral Nakhimov (ex- Kalinin ).

The 24,300-ton ships were commissioned into the Soviet Navy in 1984 and 1988, the second and third vessels in a class that eventually numbered four. Col Gen Popovkin made no mention of the lead ship, Admiral Ushakov (ex- Kirov ), which entered service in 1980 and was decommissioned in 2004, appearing to confirm earlier reports that it is to be scrapped.

The RFN currently has one ship of the class in service, Pyotr Velikiy (ex- Yuri Andropov , ex- Kuibishev ), which was launched in St Petersburg in 1989 and commissioned in 1998.

Janes reports this because this is the first time an official statement can be linked to a specific person, but the rumors of reactivation have been out there for about 2 years now. Those rumors have been the Russians wanted one battlecruiser to be the flagships of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Black Sea Fleets respectively.

With that said, I remain skeptical. First of all the nuclear fuel on these ships has likely expired, or is close to being spent. The process of replacing the reactor fuel, if not the entire reactor, is going to be very expensive. Reactivation of these old battlewagons could easily run $1.5 billion each, and that kind of money isn't just laying around. The record of the Russian shipbuilding community restoring old ships is not very good, and it is complicated by a lack of confidence in the shipbuilding industry as a whole right now.

Now, it could be that recapitalization of these ships is a domestic pitch as the Russians turn to Europe to build new ships. That isn't necessarily a bad approach, indeed it would be politically favorable IF the Russian economy recovers as has been suggested in 2010. Also, there are new radar systems and land based interceptors the Russian Navy has not fielded at sea yet, and these platforms are large enough that they can be adapted to do exactly that. This is still taking an industrial and Russian political view at the restoration of the big battlecruisers, but what about from a strategic view?

The Russian Naval strategy is not to fight the battle of the North Atlantic circa 1980, rather to reestablish presence for Russia in the seas surrounding Asia including the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Arctic Ocean. Do these battlecruisers advance that strategic view? Potentially, yes.

As the US is looking at ways to develop larger warships capable of providing credible radar systems for ballistic missile defense at sea, the Russians may be looking at their own large cruisers as a cost effective way to deploy some nuclear powered ballistic missile radar sentries themselves. The Russian military strategy is expeditionary in nature, meaning downsizing the Army and building up non-commissioned officer corps to make land forces more flexible and deployable, but it also includes a proactive view towards future technologies that allow Russia to compete in sea, space, and cyberspace against the US and a rising China while expanding Russia's soft power capabilities. The recapitalization of the old Kirov class as nuclear powered ballistic missile defense platform may be exactly the kind of capability the Russians see as a viable, cost effective evolutionary approach to play catch up to western ballistic missile influence systems that to date, are far more advanced than what Russia has.

Nothing like a big ship with plenty of power to build new technologies form. It doesn't hurt that they can carry almost any payload, and has plenty of size to be adaptable. While restoration would likely be very expensive, it would still cheaper than building new large battlecruisers.