Russians spent about 5 billion dollars on repairs to the nuclear cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov". They want to arm it with 80 missiles.
At the end of last year, the Russians managed to start up the reactor on the nuclear missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, which has not left the repair dock for 18 years. This is essentially the last nuclear cruiser of the Russian Federation, which could theoretically satisfy the Kremlin's naval ambitions.
Defense Express writes about this.
“The Russians have already managed to slap the equivalent of 5 billion dollars on this cruiser, where they plan to install launchers for as many as 80 missiles, but this does not yet bring the Nakhimov closer to returning to service with the Russian Navy, which has already been postponed until 2026. However, the very fact of launching the reactor on this Russian “long-term construction project” may be an important signal,” the publication says.
The publication notes that now the Russians need to complete the repair of the cruiser, because they have no other choice. Of the four such ships built in Soviet times, two have already been disposed of. Another one, “Pyotr Velikiy”, is formally the flagship of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation, but is also awaiting disposal due to its terrible technical condition. It has not yet been scrapped only because there is no replacement for it, and the Russian Navy is not ready for the reputational damage due to the loss of the flagship.
That is why the Russians are persistently trying to repair the fourth and last nuclear cruiser. Especially since Russia is currently the only country in the world that has ships of this class in service. For example, the US decommissioned similar American Long Beach Navy cruisers 30 years ago for the purpose of “budget savings”.
It is also known that the Russians' plan involves arming their cruiser “to the teeth”, namely installing 80 launchers for Kalibr and Zircon missiles and generally replacing the entire “stuffing” of the ship. At the same time, the cruiser has already been completely “gutted”.
“That is, in fact, now this ship looks like an empty “box” where new “stuffing”, that is, weapons and equipment, needs to be installed,” the authors of the article note.
But this project, on which Russia places great hopes, is currently “stalling” due to a lack of resources. It is not difficult to guess that the Kremlin is throwing all its equipment and weapons into the war against Ukraine.
Recall that the Russian military is forced to transfer the naval functions of its ships to helicopters due to the inability of the fleet to effectively perform tasks. The transfer of functionality from ships to aviation indicates significant challenges for the Russian fleet in countering the actions of the Ukrainian Navy.
Similar topics:
More news
