Domestic cruisers of project 1144 "Orlan" are a series of four heavy nuclear missile cruisers (TARK), which were designed in the USSR and built at the Baltic Shipyard from 1973 to 1998. They became the only surface ships in the Russian Navy equipped with a nuclear power plant. According to the NATO codification, they received the designation Kirov-class battlecruiser, after the name of the first ship of the series of the cruiser "Kirov" (since 1992 "Admiral Ushakov"). In the West, they were classified as battle cruisers due to the exceptional size and armament of the ships. The chief designer of the Project 1144 nuclear cruisers was Boris Izrailevich Kupensky, the deputy chief designer was Vladimir Yukhin.
The cruisers "Kirov" have no analogues in the world shipbuilding. These ships could effectively carry out combat missions to destroy enemy surface ships and submarines. The missile armament installed on the ships made it possible to ensure the defeat of large surface attack groups of the enemy with a high degree of probability. The ships of the series were the world's largest non-aircraft attack warships. For example, the American nuclear-powered cruisers URO of the Virginia type were 2.5 times less in displacement. The cruisers of the project 1144 "Orlan" were designed to defeat large surface targets, to protect fleet formations from attacks from the air and submarines in remote areas of the world's oceans. These ships were armed with almost all types of military and technical means that were only created for surface ships in the USSR. The main attack missile weapons of the cruisers were the Granit anti-ship missile system.
On March 26, 1973 at the Baltic Shipyard, the laying of the first lead ship of Project 1144 took place - the heavy nuclear missile cruiser "Kirov" (since 1992 - "Admiral Ushakov"), on December 27, 1977, the ship was launched, and on December 30, 1980, the TARK was transferred to the fleet. On October 31, 1984, the second ship of the series - TARK "Frunze" (since 1992 - "Admiral Lazarev") entered service. On December 30, 1988, the third ship, the Kalinin TARK (since 1992, the Admiral Nakhimov), was handed over to the fleet. And in 1986, the plant began to build the last ship of this series - the Peter the Great TARK (originally they wanted to call it Kuibyshev and Yuri Andropov). The construction of the ship took place at a difficult period in the history of the country. The collapse of the USSR led to the fact that the construction was completed only in 1996, and the tests in 1998. Thus, the ship was accepted into the fleet 10 years after the laying.
TARK project 11442 "Admiral Nakhimov" under repair
Today, out of the four, only the Peter the Great nuclear-powered missile cruiser is in service, which is the most powerful attack warship not only in the Russian Navy, but throughout the world. The first ship of the series "Admiral Ushakov" has been in a lay-by since 1991, in 2002 it was withdrawn from the fleet. Its fate has already been decided - the ship will be scrapped at the Zvezdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk. According to experts, the disposal of this TARK will cost about 10 times more than the dismantling of the largest nuclear submarine, since there is simply no technology and experience in the disposal of such warships in Russia. With a high degree of probability, the same fate will befall the second ship of the series - the cruiser "Admiral Lazarev", the ship has been in layup in the Far East since 1999. But the third cruiser of the project 11442 "Orlan" "Admiral Nakhimov" is currently undergoing repair and modernization at Sevmash. It will be returned to the fleet at the turn of 2017-2018, previously called 2019. At the same time, according to the general director of "Sevmash" Mikhail Budnichenko, the service life of the cruiser after the completion of the repair will be extended by 35 years. It is assumed that the repaired TARK "Admiral Nakhimov" will continue to serve in the Pacific Fleet of Russia, and "Peter the Great" will remain the flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet.
Heavy nuclear missile cruisers of Project 1144 "Orlan" did not have and do not have direct analogs abroad. The decommissioned American nuclear-powered cruisers of the Long Beach type (17,500 tons) were 1.5 times smaller, and Virginia (11,500 tons) was 2.5 times smaller and had a much weaker quality and quantitatively weapons. This could be explained by the different tasks that the ships faced. If in the American fleet they were only an escort for multipurpose aircraft carriers, then in the Soviet fleet nuclear surface ships were created as independent combat units that could form the basis of the oceanic combat forces of the fleet. The various armament of the TARK project 1144 made these ships multipurpose, but at the same time complicated their maintenance and created some problems with determining their tactical and technical niche.
The history of the creation of the cruisers of the project 1144
In 1961, the first nuclear-powered cruiser URO Long Beach entered the US Navy, this event was the impetus for the resumption of theoretical work on the development of a combat surface nuclear ship in the Soviet Union. But even without taking into account the Americans, the Soviet Navy, entering those years in the period of its rapid development, objectively needed ocean-going ships that could operate for a long time in isolation from coastal bases, the solution of this task was best facilitated by a nuclear power plant. Already in 1964, studies began again in the USSR to determine the appearance of the country's first nuclear-powered surface ship. Initially, the research ended with the creation of a tactical and technical assignment for the development of a project for a large anti-submarine ship with a nuclear power plant and a displacement of 8 thousand tons.
Heavy nuclear missile cruisers "Peter the Great", "Admiral Ushakov", winter 1996-1997
When designing the ship, the designers proceeded from the fact that the solution of the main task could be achieved only if sufficient combat stability was ensured. Even then, no one doubted that the main danger to the ship would be aviation, therefore, it was initially envisaged to create an echeloned air defense system of the ship. At the initial stage of development, the designers believed that it would be very difficult to combine all the necessary equipment and weapons in one hull, so the option of creating a pair of two nuclear-powered surface ships was considered: the BOD of project 1144 and the missile cruiser of project 1165. The first ship was supposed to carry anti-submarine weapons, the second - anti-ship cruise missiles (ASM). These two ships were supposed to act as part of a formation, covering each other from various threats, they were equipped with anti-aircraft weapons on an equal footing, which was supposed to contribute to the creation of a strong echeloned air defense. However, as the project developed, it was decided that it would be most rational not to separate anti-submarine and anti-ship functions, but to combine them in one cruiser. After that, work on the design of the project 1165 nuclear cruiser was discontinued and all the efforts of the developers were redirected to the project 1144 ship, which had become universal.
In the course of work, the increasing requirements for the project led to the fact that the ship received an increasing range of weapons and various equipment - which, in turn, was reflected in the increase in displacement. As a result, the project of the first Soviet nuclear-powered surface warship quickly departed from narrow anti-submarine functions, acquiring a multi-purpose focus, and its standard displacement exceeded 20 thousand tons. The cruiser was supposed to carry all the most modern types of combat and technical equipment that were created in the Soviet Union for combat surface ships. This evolution was reflected in the new classification of the ship - "heavy nuclear missile cruiser", which was assigned in June 1977, already during the construction of the lead ship of the series, which was laid down as "nuclear anti-submarine cruiser".
In its final form, the technical design of the new nuclear-powered surface ship was approved in 1972 and received the code 1144 "Orlan". The project of the first Soviet surface combat nuclear submarine was developed at the Northern Design Bureau in Leningrad. The chief designer of the 1144 project was B. I. Kupensky, and from the Soviet Navy, the main supervisor of the design and construction of the cruiser from the very beginning and until the transfer of the ship to the fleet was Captain 2nd Rank A. A. Savin.
The lead ship of the series, the Project 1144 Kirov cruiser.
The new nuclear-powered ship from the very beginning became the favorite brainchild of S. G. Gorshkov, who served as the commander-in-chief of the USSR Navy. Despite this, the design of the ship was difficult and rather slow. The increase in the displacement of the cruiser as the revision and changes were made to the requirements for the project forced the designers to look for more and more options for the main power plant of the ship - first of all, its steam generating part. At the same time, Gorshkov demanded that a backup power plant be placed on the cruiser, which would operate on organic fuel. The fears of the warriors of those years could be understood: the Soviet and world experience of operating nuclear-powered ships in those years was not large enough, and even nowadays accidents with reactor failure occur from time to time. At the same time, a surface combat ship, unlike a submarine, can afford to switch from a nuclear reactor to burning ordinary fuel in furnaces - it was decided to take full advantage of this advantage. It was assumed that the reserve boiler would be able to assist in ensuring the ship's mooring. The underdeveloped system of basing large warships in the Soviet Union was a sore spot for the navy for a long time.
While the lead ship of the series was still on the slipway, an improved project was already created for the next cruiser, which received the index 11442. It provided for the replacement of some types of weapons and equipment with the latest systems at that time: the anti-aircraft artillery complex (ZRAK) "Kortik" instead of the turret 30- mm six-barreled machine guns; SAM "Dagger" instead of SAM "Osa-MA", universal twin 130-mm mount AK-130 instead of two single-gun 100-mm towers AK-100 on "Kirov", anti-submarine complex "Waterfall" instead of "Blizzard", RBU- 12000 instead of RBU-6000, etc. It was planned that all ships of the series following the cruiser "Kirov" will be built according to an improved design, however, in fact, due to the unavailability of all the planned weapons for serial production, they were added to the ships under construction as development was completed. In the end, only the last ship, Peter the Great, could correspond to Project 11442, but it also had reservations, and the second and third ships Frunze and Kalinin, in terms of armament, occupied an intermediate position between the first and last ships of the series.
Description of the design of the cruisers of the project 1144
All cruisers of the project 1144 "Orlan" had a hull with an extended (more than 2/3 of the total length) forecastle. The hull is divided into 16 main compartments by means of watertight bulkheads. There are 5 decks along the entire length of the TARK hull. In the bow of the ship, under the bulbous fairing, there is a stationary antenna of the Polynom sonar complex. In the stern of the ship there is an underdeck hangar, which is designed for the permanent basing of 3 Ka-27 helicopters, as well as premises for storing fuel supplies and a lift designed to supply helicopters to the upper deck. Here, in the aft part of the ship, there is a compartment with a lifting and lowering device for the towed antenna of the Polynom hydroacoustic complex. The advanced superstructures of the heavy cruiser are made with extensive use of aluminum-magnesium alloys. The main part of the ship's armament is concentrated on the stern and in the bow.
Project 1144 cruisers are protected from receiving combat damage by anti-torpedo protection, a double bottom along the entire length of the hull, as well as local booking of vital parts of the TARK. As such, there is no belt armor on the cruisers of the 1144 Orlan project - the armor protection is in the depths of the hull - however, along the waterline from the bow of the ship to its stern, a thickened skin belt with a height of 3.5 meters was laid (of which 2.5 meters above the waterline and 1 meter below the waterline), which plays an important role in the structural protection of the cruiser.
TARK project 1144 "Orlan" became the first warships after the Second World War, in the design of which a sufficiently developed reservation was laid. So the engine rooms, missile cellars of the Granit complexes and the reactor compartments are protected from the sides by 100 mm (below the waterline - 70 mm) and from the deck side by 70 mm armor. The rooms of the ship's combat information post and the main command post, which are located inside its hull at the waterline level, also received armor protection: they are covered with 100-mm side walls with a 75-mm roof and traverses. In addition, in the stern of the cruiser, there is armor on the sides (70-mm) and on the roof (50-mm) of the helicopter hangar, as well as around the ammunition and aviation fuel storage. There is also a local reservation above the tiller compartments.
The nuclear power plant with KN-3 reactors (core of the VM-16 type), although based on the icebreaking reactors of the OK-900 type, has significant differences from them. The main thing is in fuel assemblies, which contain highly enriched uranium (about 70%). The service life of such an active zone until the next recharge is 10-11 years. The reactors installed on the cruiser are double-circuit, on thermal neutrons, and water-moderated. They use double-distilled water as a coolant and a moderator - high-purity water that circulates through the reactor core under high pressure (about 200 atmospheres), providing the boiling of the second loop, which ultimately goes to the turbines in the form of steam.
The developers paid special attention to the possibility of using a two-shaft power plant of the cruiser, the power on each shaft of which is 70,000 hp. The complex-automated NPP was located in 3 compartments and included 2 nuclear reactors with a total thermal power of 342 MW, 2 turbo-gear units (located in the bow and aft of the reactor compartment), as well as 2 reserve automated boilers KVG-2, mounted in turbine rooms. With the functioning of only a reserve power plant - without the use of nuclear reactors - the cruiser of the project 1144 "Orlan" is able to develop a speed of 17 knots, there will be enough fuel reserves to pass 1,300 nautical miles at this speed. The use of nuclear reactors provides the cruiser with a full speed of 31 knots and unlimited cruising range. The power plant installed on the ships of this project would be able to provide heat and electricity to a city with a population of 100-150 thousand inhabitants. Well-thought-out hull contours and large displacement provide the TARK project 1144 "Orlan" with excellent seaworthiness, which is especially important for warships in the oceanic zone.
The crew of the TARK project 1144/11442 consists of 759 people (including 120 officers). To accommodate the crew on board the ship there are 1600 rooms, including 140 single and double cabins, which are intended for officers and warrant officers, 30 cabins for sailors and foremen for 8-30 people each, 15 showers, two baths, a sauna with a 6x2 pool, 5 meters, a two-level medical block (outpatient, operating room, infirmaries-isolation wards, X-ray room, dental office, pharmacy), a gym with exercise equipment, 3 wardrooms for warrant officers, officers and admirals, as well as a lounge for rest and even its own cable television studio.
Armament of cruisers of project 1144 "Orlan"
The main weapons of these cruisers were the P-700 Granit anti-ship missiles - supersonic cruise missiles of the third generation with a lowered profile of the flight path to the target. With a launch weight of 7 tons, these missiles developed speeds of up to 2.5 M and could carry a conventional warhead weighing 750 kg or a monoblock nuclear charge with a capacity of up to 500 kt for a distance of up to 625 km. The missile is 10 meters long and 0.85 meters in diameter. 20 anti-ship cruise missiles "Granit" were installed under the upper deck of the cruiser, with an elevation angle of 60 degrees. SM-233 launchers for these missiles were produced at the Leningrad Metal Plant. For the reason that the Granit missiles were originally intended for submarines, the installation must be filled with seawater before launching the rocket. Based on the experience of the operational and combat training of the Navy, it is very difficult to shoot down the Granit. Even if you hit the anti-missile missile system, because of its tremendous speed and mass, it can retain enough momentum to "reach" the target ship.
Launcher of the ship-based air defense missile system "Fort-M"
The basis of the anti-aircraft missile weapons of the project 1144 "Orlan" cruisers was the S-300F missile system (Fort), which was placed under the deck on rotating drums. The complete ammunition load of the complex consisted of 96 anti-aircraft missiles. On the only ship of the Peter the Great series (instead of one S-300F complex), a unique S-300FM Fort-M bow complex appeared, which was produced in one copy. Each such complex is capable of simultaneously firing at up to 6 maneuvering small-sized targets (accompanying up to 12 targets) and directing 12 missiles at them simultaneously under conditions of active and passive jamming by the enemy. Due to the design features of the S-300FM missiles, the ammunition load of Peter the Great was reduced by 2 missiles. Thus, the Peter the Great TARK is armed with one S-300FM complex with 46 48N6E2 missiles and one S-300F complex with 48 48N6E missiles, the full ammunition load consists of 94 missiles. "Fort-M" was created on the basis of the army air defense complex S-Z00PMU2 "Favorite". This complex, unlike its predecessor, the Fort anti-aircraft complex, is able to hit targets at a distance of up to 120 km and successfully fight the enemy anti-ship missiles at altitudes up to 10 meters. The expansion of the affected area of the complex was achieved by improving the sensitivity of the receiving channels and the energy characteristics of the transmitter.
The second echelon of the cruiser's air defense is the Kinzhal air defense missile system, which was included in Project 11442, but in reality appeared only on the last ship of the series. The main task of this complex is to defeat air targets that have broken through the first line of the cruiser's air defense (SAM "Fort"). The basis of the "Dagger" is solid-propellant, single-stage, remote-controlled missiles 9M330, which are unified with the air defense complex of the ground forces "Tor-M1". Rockets take off vertically with the engine inoperative under the influence of a catapult. The missiles reload is automatic, the launch interval is 3 seconds. The target detection range in automatic mode is 45 km, the number of simultaneously fired targets is 4, the reaction time is 8 seconds. SAM "Dagger" operates in an autonomous mode (without the participation of personnel). According to the specification, there should have been 128 such missiles on board each project 11442 cruiser in 16x8 installations.
The third air defense line is the Kortik air defense system, which is a short-range defense complex. It is intended to replace the usual 30-mm six-barreled artillery systems AK-630. ZRAK "Kortik" in television-optical and radar modes is able to provide full automation of combat control from target detection to its destruction. Each installation consists of two 30-mm six-barreled automatic rifles AO-18, the total rate of fire of which is 10,000 rounds per minute and two blocks of 4 two-stage 9M311 missiles. These missiles have a fragmentation-rod warhead and a proximity fuse. In the turret compartment of each installation there are 32 such missiles in transport and launch containers. The 9M311 missiles are unified with the 2S6 Tunguska ground complex and are able to fight anti-ship missiles, guided bombs, helicopters and enemy aircraft. The range of the missile unit of the "Kortik" air defense missile system is 1.5-8 km, the addition of 30-mm artillery mounts is carried out at a distance of 1500-50 meters. The height of the struck air targets is 5-4000 meters. In total, each of the three cruisers of the 11442 project was supposed to have 6 such complexes, the ammunition of which consisted of 192 missiles and 36,000 shells.
ZRAK "Kortik"
As a universal artillery system, Project 11442 Orlan cruisers received one AK-130 turret mount, which has two 130-mm automatic guns with a barrel length of 70 calibers. AK-130 provides a rate of fire at the level of 20 to 86 rounds per minute, and, in addition to air targets, can be used to fire at various sea and coastal targets, to support the landing of troops with fire. The ammunition load of the universal artillery mount consists of several types of unitary rounds - for example, high-explosive fragmentation shots with remote, shock and radio fuses. The firing range of this artillery mount is 25 km, The anti-submarine weapons of the Project 1144 cruiser were represented by the Metel complex, which in Project 11442 was replaced by the more modern Vodopad anti-submarine complex. Unlike "Blizzard", "Waterfall" does not need a separate launcher - the missile-torpedoes of the complex are loaded into standard torpedo tubes. A missile model 83RN (or 84RN with a nuclear warhead), like an ordinary torpedo, is fired from a torpedo tube with compressed air and dives into the water. Then, upon reaching a certain depth, the rocket engine is launched and the rocket-torpedo takes off from under the water and already through the air delivers the warhead to the target area - up to 60 kilometers from the carrier ship - after which the warhead is separated. The UMGT-1, a 400-mm small-sized homing torpedo, can be used as a warhead. The range of the UMGT-1 torpedo, which can be mounted on rocket-torpedoes, is 8 km, the speed is 41 knots, and the depth is 500 meters. The cruiser has up to 30 of these missile-torpedoes in ammunition.
The RBU-6000 twelve-barreled rocket launcher, like the torpedo tubes, was received by all ships of the series, but, starting with the third, they began to be supplemented with a more modern 10-round bomb launcher of the RBU-12000 Udav-1 anti-torpedo complex. Each of these installations has conveyor reloading and is able to both load and fire at torpedoes going into the cruiser in automatic mode. The reaction time of the "Boa constrictor" is 15 seconds, the maximum range is 3000 meters, the minimum is 100 meters. Ammunition for two such installations is 120 rocket depth charges.
On all cruisers of the project 1144 (11442), it was provided for the permanent basing of up to 3 Ka-27 helicopters in anti-submarine modification. To ensure the basing of the air group, a landing pad is equipped at the stern of the cruiser, there is a special under-deck hangar and a helicopter lift, as well as the necessary radio navigation equipment and an aviation control post. Soviet heavy nuclear cruisers of Project 1144 "Orlan" - for the first time since the end of the era of artillery ships - in the design process received a sufficient displacement reserve in order to protect both the Ka-27 helicopters themselves and the fuel supplies for them with armor and shelter under the deck.
The main characteristics of the TARK "Peter the Great":
Displacement standard - 23,750 tons, full - 25,860 tons.
Length - 250, 1 m.
Width - 28.5 m.
Height (from the main plane) - 59 m.
Draft - 10.3 m.
Power plant - 2 nuclear reactors and 2 boilers.
Power - 140,000 hp
Travel speed - 31 knots.
Cruising range - not limited on the reactor, 1300 miles on the boilers.
Swimming autonomy - 60 days.
The crew is 760 people.
Armament: 20 anti-ship missiles P-700 "Granite"; 48 missiles of the "Fort" air defense system and 46 missiles of the "Fort-M" air defense system; 16 PU SAM "Dagger" (128 missiles); 6 ZRAK "Kortik" (192 missiles); RBU-12000; 10x533 mm torpedo tubes; AK-130; 3 anti-submarine helicopters Ka-27.
