RUSSIAN BATTLECRUISER "ADMIRAL USHAKOV" (ex KIROV) 2008

Description

The Admiral Ushakov (ex Kirov) class battlecruisers are the largest and most powerful surface combatant warships in the Russian Navy and among the largest in the world. Originally built for the Soviet Navy, in Russia they are usually known by the designation Project 1144 Orlan (meaning Sea eagle). They are among the largest warships in the world, second only to aircraft carriers, and are similar in size to a World War I battleship. Because of this, the ships are sometimes known as battlecruisers in the West. It is more appropriate to consider Kirov an oversized guided missile cruiser, analogous to the U.S. Navy Alaska-class large cruiser, which had the displacement and armament of a battlecruiser but otherwise was closer to a heavy cruiser in mission and construction. Soviet and Russian naval analysts always referred to it as a "large missile cruiser." The appearance of the Kirov class played a large role in the recommissioning of the Iowa class battleships. Kirov suffered a reactor accident in 1990 while serving in the Mediterranean Sea. Repairs were never carried out, due to lack of funds and the changing political situation in the Soviet Union. She was renamed " Admiral Ushakov" in 1992. She may have been cannibalized as a spare parts cache for the other ships in her class. (Scale : 1/350e)