In 2018, the Admiral Nakhimov cruiser should become the most modern large-tonnage ship of the Russian fleet. Its modernization began in 2014 and, according to the plan, will last four years. Then it will be the turn of another ship, the Peter the Great, the flagship of the SF built according to the same Orlan project No. 11442. These giants can serve away from their native coasts, providing a military presence in any part of the World Ocean. Navy units were created in accordance with the Soviet military doctrine of the first half of the 80s of the last century, they cost the state budget of the USSR a round sum (there were four of them in total), and now this legacy must be properly disposed of. The degree of need for these types of ships and their possible effectiveness in the event of armed conflict should also be assessed.
General purpose
From a macroeconomic point of view, any costs should be borne in accordance with specific expediency. A state that does not have the ability to defend its interests on a global scale is doomed to peripheral vegetation. Despite the abundance of international agreements, the presence of international supranational structures that monitor compliance with the established rules, in many cases militarily strong countries use aviation, fleets and ground forces, violating all written and unwritten laws to ensure their regional dominance. There is a UN Security Council resolution - well, but if it is not received, the "big club" is always ready. To counter threats of this kind, there are such giant nuclear powered ships as Admiral Nakhimov. The cruiser is designed to provide powerful cover for the entire squadron, performing tasks at a great distance. In a military language, this is called "sustainability." In essence, such a ship is the core of a naval formation deprived of the opportunity to receive support from its or friendly coastal bases due to its great distance and threatened by hostile armed forces. The nuclear-powered missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov is supposed to be able to uncover a kind of “umbrella” consisting of anti-aircraft, anti-missile, anti-submarine and other systems, repel attacks, and, if necessary, deliver a crushing blow.
Ship Architecture and Stells Technology
In the early eighties, the Soviet military-industrial complex was a developed industry, which included thousands of enterprises and scientific institutions. The successes of domestic developers of defense systems were provided with generous funding. When creating new models, the latest achievements in the field of offensive weapons of the military-industrial complex of countries - potential opponents were taken into account. An example is the ship Admiral Nakhimov. The cruiser was built on the principle of low visibility of its hull for radars. The outlines of the superstructures are made in the form of pyramids, consisting of inclined planes, the surface part has “littered” sides, there are practically no right angles. A special technologically impeccable substance was used for painting, bearing the empty name “varnish” and in appearance not different from the usual ball coating of warships, but having an important unique property to absorb high-frequency radiation, minimizing their reflection. Experts argue about how effective efforts are to make small radar visible to an object with a length of 250 meters, but scientific developments in this area are valuable in themselves, taking into account their further application. Indeed, such a large ship can be seen not only on the radar screens, but also from the satellite, not to mention reconnaissance aircraft. The Stells technology is important for the possible misrepresentation of anti-ship missile guidance blocks. The "spot" of the flare on the screen will become smaller, in addition, the cruiser can project false targets using electronic missile defense.
Upgrade Options
Over the past almost three decades, almost all the technical equipment and weapons systems of the ship are outdated, and now only a huge hull equipped with a powerful nuclear power plant is of value to the fleet. However, the cost of this “platform” is such that it should not be neglected. An example of caring for expensive material can be the US Navy. All US large-capacity ships are initially built taking into account possible modernization, power supply cable channels and installation dimensions are made in such a way that replacing any equipment - in the case of more modern ones - is not a problem. The repair of the Admiral Nakhimov cruiser, which formally began in 1998, was delayed precisely because there was a need for a huge number of design changes necessary for effective modernization. TARK "Kalinin" (under this name the ship was laid in 1983 and served until 1993) could not satisfy the conditions of the sea battle of the beginning of the third millennium. The restructuring project was entrusted to the Northern Design Bureau (St. Petersburg), 21 months were allocated for its development. Estimated documentation amounted to almost 2.8 billion rubles. It is assumed that the entire modernization of the ship will cost tens of billions. Immediately there were critics who claimed that for that kind of money it would be possible to build several new combat units of the “frigate” or “corvette” class, which in total possess great combat capabilities. This opinion, of course, has a right to exist, but light class ships are not designed to perform the tasks for which the "Admiral Nakhimov" was built. The cruiser has a larger operational radius, it is much longer than the destroyer or BOD, therefore, in general, its modernization is economically justified.
About the title
Sailors are not only a brave people, but also pretty superstitious. They, under any pretext, try to avoid leaving the port on the thirteenth, believe in different signs and do not like unlucky names. Unfortunately, there are reasons for concern in this case.
The armored cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" was launched to the bottom by its crew in order to avoid its capture by the Japanese in 1905 during the Tsushima battle. The sailors fought heroically, sank several enemy destroyers, seriously damaged the Iwate cruiser and in no way shamed the glory of the Russian fleet. "Varangian", who died under such circumstances, gave his formidable name to a modern ship.
Less well-known is the fate of another Nakhimov, the merchant ship of the ROPIT Society, which sank off the Turkish coast in 1897 during a severe storm.
In 1941, during the heroic defense of Sevastopol, German aircraft sunk the ship Chervona Ukraine, which earlier (before the Civil War) was called Admiral Nakhimov. The cruiser sank, having received many holes.
In 1960, another ship bearing the name of the famous naval commander was withdrawn from the Black Sea Fleet. The story turned out to be mysterious: the missile cruiser was only a decade and a half, and there is an assumption that it was used to study the effect on the hull of an underwater wave arising from a nuclear explosion.
In 1973, another Admiral Nakhimov sank. The wreck of the research vessel happened ironically in the place where the great Russian naval commander made one of his most brilliant victories - in the Tsemess bay. The ship suddenly froze and went to the bottom right at the pier.
Due to severe damage sustained in a collision with a submarine, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Nakhimov was decommissioned. The cruiser (Tsushima), the scientific vessel (Tsemesskaya bay), another cruiser (Sevastopol), a merchant ship (northern coast of Turkey), Kazakhstan (50 kilometers from the southern coast of Crimea) - one of the worst marine tragedies for the whole history of shipping. It was attended by the cargo ship "Peter Vasev" and the ship, which at the time of launching, was named "Berlin". In 1986, two large ships could not miss each other in the Novorossiysk Tsemess Bay. After the Victory, the captured Berlin was called Admiral Nakhimov. The catastrophe claimed the lives of hundreds of passengers and crew members.
How can one not believe in evil rock pursuing an unfortunate name?
And yet, why exactly “Nakhimov”?
The above tragic episodes do not constitute a secret for leaders whose responsibilities include the choice of the name of the ship. And if the decision, despite such sad statistics, is still made, then there are good reasons for this. Moreover, with a more detailed and impartial analysis, we can conclude that warships bearing the name of the famous naval commander are mostly worthy of good memory, and their fate causes pride in their native country and its valiant sons. The armored cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" repeated with his crew the feat of the proud "Varyag", in the 41st another ship fought with the enemy until the last shell.
Their death cannot be called accidental or ridiculous, it was heroic.
As for the other two cases, the withdrawal from the fleets occurred without casualties, due to insurmountable circumstances or by decision of the command.
Admiral
Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov went all the way to a Russian officer, starting his career as a cadet at a naval school and accepting a heroic death from an enemy bullet on the bastion of Sevastopol with admiral epaulets on his shoulders. At the age of fifteen, he participated in a long voyage to the shores of Denmark and Sweden, receiving the rank of midshipman, and took up a position in the 2nd naval crew of the St. Petersburg port (1818). In 1822 he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir IV degree for participating in circumnavigation. He commanded the deck battery on the cruiser Azov during the Battle of Navarin and the legendary frigate Pallada, which was part of the F.F. Bellingshausen squadron. He served in the Black Sea Fleet since 1834, and commanded the battleship Silistria. He participated in operations in the Caucasus, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir III degree. In October 1852 he received the rank of vice admiral.
The heroic Sevastopol epic deserves separate words. The high qualities of the naval commander manifested themselves most clearly in it. The memory of such a person deserves the name of the most powerful and modern missile cruiser. Admiral Nakhimov is a Russian national hero.
Start of modernization
After the final approval and acceptance of the technical documentation, it was the turn of real action. To begin with, the ship should be freed from all the cargo of equipment to be decommissioned and disposed of. This work, although time-consuming, but grateful. A significant part of the cost of modernization will be offset by the extraction of a large mass of valuable metal. The nuclear-powered cruiser Admiral Nakhimov has become a source of secondary resources with a total mass of 878 tons, of which 644 are ferrous (cast iron), aluminum and copper alloys (168 tons), and alloyed high-quality steel with a high carbon content (66 tons). In addition, precious metals contained in electrical and electronic equipment are also subject to disposal. Only 20 million rubles were spent on the disassembly and sorting process, which is significantly less than the cost of the resources received.
In addition to utilitarian value, the process of dismantling all unnecessary equipment pursued another goal: the maximum lightening of the object to reduce its settlement. Such a large watercraft is not so easy to bring into a drained dock (batoport) - this requires pontoons attached to the hull (there are six in total). Two of them were already ready; they were assembled for the repair of the Vikramaditya cruiser, previously purchased by India. The experience gained during the execution of this order was also useful. The manufacture of pontoons, their testing and fastening required both time and material costs. At present, the nuclear-powered cruiser Admiral Nakhimov is inside the dock, its hull is freed from all that is superfluous, and nuclear fuel has been removed from the reactor. Modernization has begun.
Modernization goals
The main goal of expensive work is to give the combat unit of the Northern Fleet the desired combat effectiveness. This requires not only a complete replacement of obsolete equipment and weapons systems since 1980, but also the possibility of further modernization in accordance with the requirements of the coming decades. Electronic equipment, missiles and control systems lose relevance quite quickly, and one should not repeat the mistakes of the designers who built the Admiral Nakhimov cruiser in the eighties. Modernization, inevitable in a few years, should be less painful and cost much less.
Of the most time-consuming tasks assigned to the Sevmash shipbuilders, the first place is replaced by the inclined silo launchers designed for 3M45 missiles, universal complexes UKSK 3S14 vertical launch. Perhaps they still will not refuse the inclined scheme (many details of the project are kept secret), but the launch will no longer be made from flooded positions (the need for this was dictated by the “submarine” origin of the obsolete 3M45). There were 20 mines in total, the same number of them will remain, but in each of them there will be a modular system with four missiles. Total, the number of anti-ship missiles will increase four times and amount to 80.
What they will be, it remains to guess, most likely, Onyx or Turquoise. The cruiser’s reputation as a “killer of aircraft carriers” suggests the possibility of equipping shock weapons with special charges (nuclear). Such a large number of missiles in the Nakhimov’s arsenal is dictated by the “flocking” method of their use. It is almost impossible to repel a group attack of RCC.
In addition to the main caliber, the TARK will presumably be armed with 3M14 subsonic means intended for onshore coastal purposes. The crew will fight the submarines with the Package-NK complexes (it is possible that the well-established and not outdated Waterfall-NK will remain in the armament). The RBU-6000 jet bombers will replace the Boas-1, capable of providing reliable protection against torpedo attacks.
Air defense
It would be naive to believe that Sevmash Design Bureau will not take care of how to protect such a large naval target as Admiral Nakhimov from a possible attack by aircraft and missiles. The cruiser, despite all the means used to ensure its secrecy, remains a very noticeable object, and in the event of a military conflict it will inevitably become a target for enemy anti-ship systems. Previously, the S-300F Fort air defense missile system repelled the air attack, which were very good, but requiring replacement, taking into account the high cost of the project and its promising value. It was assumed that the airborne air defense will be updated by installing subdeck launchers close in design and characteristics to the S-500 ground systems. They will be of a cellular type, rather than revolving, as before, and, due to their greater compactness, there will be more of them (there will be several hundred in the arsenal of anti-aircraft missiles). One type, of course, is not limited to. In addition to the S-500, the Pantsir-M missile and artillery complex is designed to control the sky over the flagship and its retinue. However, the naval leadership, for obvious reasons, did not disclose the details.
