The Russian nuclear-powered Kirov class cruiser RFS Admiral Nakhimov was observed on August 18th departing the Sevmash shipyard at Severodvinsk and headed into the White Sea under its own power. The sortie marks the beginning of the sea and factory trials for the vessel which over the past years went through an extensive modernization to bring it back into service.
In February, it was reported that both nuclear reactors on board of the ship were started up and the vessel underwent demagnetization of its hull in May. The sea and factory trials mark a new phase in the campaign of bringing the cruiser back into service with the Russian Navy. If completed successfully, the cruiser will take over the role as flagship of the Russian Navy, a role currently taken up by its sister ship, the RFS Pyotr Velikiy.
The RFS Admiral Nakhimov last went to sea in 1997 and was then laid up in a dry dock at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, northern Russia. The 1990s were a turbulent time for the Russian Navy with funding lacking and forcing the navy to downsize and decommission several warships.
Modernization of the RFS Admiral Nakhimov to bring it back into service, started in 2014 and the original timeline specified that the vessel would be modernized by 2018. However, the completion project has been postponed on several occasions and only by the end of 2024 it become clear that sea and factory trials were likely to take place in 2025.
Over the past years, the RFS Admiral Nakhimov has been severely upgraded with new weapon systems and sensors, making it one of the most powerful and capable vessels of the Russian Navy. The vessel reportedly has over 176 vertical launch cells, capable of firing a wide array of anti-ship and air defense missiles. The cruiser reportedly has 10 universal shipborne firing systems (USFS), each capable of housing 8 missiles. This results in 80 launch cells reserved for launching Russia’s most modern missiles such as the subsonic Kalibr cruise missile, the supersonic Oniks anti-ship missile, and the hypersonic Tsirkon cruise missiles. In order to make room for these launch cells, the 20 angled Granit anti-ship missiles were removed.
An additional 96 launch cells are reserved for surface-to-air missiles to be used for air defense. It is unclear what missiles are installed on the cruiser with some reports stating that the cruiser operates the S-300Fort-M air defense systems with other sources stating that the S-400 air defense system is installed. Additional air defense systems for close to medium range engagement include six Pantsir-M air defense systems. The vessel is reportedly also equipped with the Paket-NK and Otvet anti-submarine and torpedo weapon systems.
The 130mm AK-130 dual purpose naval gun has been replaced by a modern 130mm AK-192M naval gun.
With 174 launch cells on board, the RFS Admiral Nakhimov is, at least in theory, the most armed capital warship in terms of numbers. The cruiser has more launch cells than Chinese Type 055 Renhai-class cruisers which have 112 vertical launch cells, the South-Korean Sejong The Great class destroyers with 128 launch cells, the US Navy Ticonderoga-class cruisers with 122 launch cells, and the Arleigh Burk-class destroyers with 96 vertical launch cells.
The current sea and factory trials will take up a long period of time during which the ships navigational and weapon systems will be tested. The first set of trials will focus on safety of navigation, reliability of the propulsion and how the ships operates during regular deployments at sea. In later stages, the weapon systems and combat effectiveness of the vessel will be tested and rated, only after which the Russian Navy will accept the vessel back into active service. Sea and factory trials can take several months, making it possible that the vessel will be placed in active service by the end of the year.
Once in active service, the RFS Admiral Nakhimov will take over the role as flagship of the Russian Navy from het sister ship, the RFS Pyotr Velikiy. It is expected that the RFS Pyotr Velikiy will not undergo a similar modernization as the RFS Admiral Nakhimov but will simply be decommissioned. The decision to not modernize the RFS Pyotr Velikiy is probably made taken in account that the costs and time needed to modernize the Kirov class cruisers as well as the fact that the RFS Pyotr Velikiy has been more operational and thus more worn down compared to the RFS Admiral Nakhimov. Most likely, key personnel of the RFS Pyotr Velikiy will be repurposed to man and operate the RFS Admiral Nakhimov
Once in active service, the RFS Admiral Nakhimov will likely take up a unique role within the Russian Navy. With its large number of missiles and defensive weapon systems, the vessel will most likely take a prominent role in Russian Fleet exercises and deployments of surface action groups. Its vast of both offensive and defensive weapon systems means that the vessel is able to interdict a large area at sea and provide protection for a Russian surface action group. The vessel will also serve as a counterweight to NATO task forces operating near Russian waters.
The RFS Admiral Nakhimov is one of the last remaining large capital warships within the Russian Navy and will become one of only three remaining cruisers operated by the Russian Navy. Russia also operates two other cruisers, the RFS Marshal Ustanov in the Northern Fleet, and the RFS Varyag in the Pacific Fleet. Both cruisers are part of the Slava-class missile cruisers which are also nearing the end of their operational service life, making it possible that the RFS Admiral Nakhimov will become the sole large capital warship in operational service with the Russian Navy in the near future as Russian shipyards are unable to build new capital warships and struggle with modernizing and extending the service life of its large surface warships. Earlier this year, Russia announced that it will stop all modernization and construction work on its single aircraft carrier, the RFS Admiral Kuznetsov.
In the near to mid-term future, the RFS Admiral Nakhimov will become a unicum in the Russian Navy as the navy is transforming its surface fleet to be composed of modern frigates of the Admiral Gorshkov class and modern corvettes and missile boats. Larger warships such as destroyers are no longer build and only a few Udaloy class destroyers remain operational or are in the progress of being modernized. All this makes the RFS Admiral Nakhimov probably one of the last truly blue water navy vessels that will be in service with the Russian Navy in the near future.
