Admiral Kuznetsov in the Barents Sea
08 Dec 2008
Russian carrier 'Admiral Kuznetsov' on the way to the Atlantic and Mediterranean
The Russian aircraft carrier and the missile destroyer ‘Admiral Levchenko’ put to sea last Friday.
Meanwhile, a Russian warship crosses Panama Canal for first time since WWII:
Russia’s Admiral Chabanenko destroyer crossed the Panama Canal overnight, becoming the first Russian or Soviet warship to enter the waterway since World War II.
Here’s a pic:
Russian destroyer Admiral Chabanenko in the Panama Canal
Seems the Russian navy is putting serious efforts into ridding itself of the image it’s had for undeployable ships rusting away in port with half-crews of half-trained sailors.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Does anyone know if that carrier is100% diesel, or does it have combo nuke capabilities? I’ve read conflicting reports on that.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
jaymaster: We don’t even know if it’s 100% watertight…
December 8th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
No nuke as far as I know.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
No aircraft?
December 8th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Now that I’ve thought about it a bit, judging by that smoke plume, it might actually be a combo oil/coal….
December 8th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
It apparently carries Sukhoi Su-33 fighters; not sure what the complement is (the Russians have only built like 24 of them total). The ski jump on the Kuznetsov apparently prevents them from launching at max weight unlike a catapult-equipped carrier, but does result in lower launch loads on the aircraft. So it isn’t really a fleet carrier, more of a support ship, closer in role to the Wasp-class amphibs (or future America-class LHAs).
December 9th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Does the whole battle group consist of the carrier and a missile destroyer? The French and Italians can do as well or better than that. And they actually have aircraft to launch from their boats.
Weren’t they trying to sell this ship to the Indians? Or was that her sister ship that never got finished? Maybe they are trying to show it off a bit to make the Indians think twice about passing up the deal?
December 9th, 2008 at 6:13 am
It’ll be interesting to see if they just put refurbished ships out, how much patrolling they do, and most important……whether they start adding to their fleet to flesh it out with greater capability.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Pritty sure its nuke powered, so they wouldn’t need fuel for it.
If the su-33’s aren’t flying then they wouldn’t be on board, which would save fuel and crew.
They are selling an earlier type carrier to India, the ones with the missiles at the front.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:59 am
[...] we saw the Admiral Kuznetsov in the Barents Sea. Then the former Admiral Gorshkov, now India’s Vikramaditya, was floated for the first time [...]