| Soviet aircraft carrier Novorossiysk | |
|---|---|
 Novorossiysk in 1986 | |
| Career (Soviet Union ⁄ Russia) |   |
| Name: | Novorossiysk |
| Builder: | Chernomorskiy yard, Nikolayev |
| Laid down: | September 30, 1975 [1] |
| Launched: | December 26, 1978 [1] |
| Commissioned: | September 14, 1982 [1] |
| Decommissioned: | June 1993 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1997 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: |
31,900 tons (standard) [1] 43,220 tons (loaded) [1] |
| Length: | 273,1 m overall [1] |
| Beam: |
51.3 m (168 ft) o/a 31 m (102 ft) w/l [1] |
| Draught: | 9.3 m [1] |
| Propulsion: | 4 shaft geared steam turbines, 140,000 shp |
| Speed: | 32 knots (59 km/h) |
| Endurance: | 13,500 nautical miles (25,000 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Armament: |
4 × twin SS-N-12 Sandbox SSM launchers (8 missiles), 2 × twin SA-N-3 Goblet SAM launchers (72 missiles), 2 × twin 76.2 mm AA guns, 8 × AK-630 30 mm CIWS, 1 × twin SUW-N-1 FRAS Anti-Submarine Rocket launcher |
| Aircraft carried: |
12 Yak-38M fighter aircraft 20 Kamov Ka-25 or Kamov Ka-27 helicopters |
Novorossiysk was a conventionally powered heavy aircraft carrying cruiser or aircraft carrier that served the Soviet Navy, and later the Russian Navy, from 1982 to 1993. She was the third Kiev class vessel to be built. She was designed to engage in offensive actions as a guided missile cruiser mostly using her deck mounted missiles as well as support anti-submarine and surface actions with her embarked air group.
History[]
Novorossiysk was laid down at the former Soviet Black Sea Shipyard in Mykolaiv, Ukraine on 30 September 1975, launched on 24 December 1978, commissioned on 12 September 1982, and decommissioned in June 1993. The third ship in her class she served in the Soviet Pacific Fleet.
In March 1985, the Novorossiysk and escorting battle group departed the Sea of Japan, sailed to the south of Okinawa and then west across the Pacific. The US Navy Battle Frigate USS Kirk FF 1087 (the greyhound of the fleet) was the tattle tale on this cruise, with the finest as semblance of OPERATION SPECIALIST ever gathered! After approximately eight days, the ships turned and headed northwest toward the Kuril Islands, simulating an enemy carrier strike against the Soviet Union. As the Novorossiysk approached the islands, about 700 miles east of Japan, Soviet Bear bombers flew reconnaissance missions near the battle group and helped vector some 20 Backfire bombers to their targets, practising the Soviet strategy of bomber launched anti-ship missile warfare. A U.S. Navy description of the Novorossisysk exercise notes that "The force was hit by simulated air strikes and probably by submarines firing torpedoes and cruise missiles from 1,120 km east of Japan, on 14 April. They came at it with submarines and aircraft--everything they had."[2]
In 1995 the Novorossiysk hulk, which had suffered a serious engine room fire,[3] was sold for scrapping, and was broken up in 1997 at Pohang, South Korea.[4]
See also[]
- Soviet battleship Novorossiysk (1949 to 1955) Former Italian battleship Giulio Cesare
- List of aircraft carriers of Russia and the Soviet Union
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Project 1143". http://russian-ships.info/eng/warships/project_1143.htm. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
- ↑ The Transformation of Soviet Maritime Air Operations
- ↑ sci.military.naval FAQ, Part E - Aircraft Carriers
- ↑ Haze Gray & Underway Photo Feature: Soviet & Russian Navy - Aviation Cruisers and Carriers
External links[]
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