Carrier Killer or Cold War Relic?

A massive 28,000 ton Soviet battlecruiser returns to the sea.

Egyptians watch as the Russian navy Kirov class battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great) transits the Suez Canal at the port city of Ismailia, 120 kilometers north east of Cairo, on Feb. 22, 2009, on its way home after participating in war games in the Indian ocean. AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

Few warships embody Cold War competition like Russia’s Kirov battlecruisers. Conceived at the height of United States–Soviet competition, these heavily armored, armed-to-the-teeth nuclear-powered battlecruisers were deployed to provide an asymmetric counter to U.S. carrier dominance. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, poorly maintained, unmodernized Kirovs fell into disrepair. And with one very notable exception, they seem fated to be decommissioned.