A year ago, in April 2013, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Sevmash plant (Severodvinsk) signed a contract, according to which, over the next few years, the heavy nuclear missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov of project 11442 will be repaired and upgraded. Eagle . This ship, which began service in 1988, was sent for repairs in the late nineties and has not yet returned to service. Long years of downtime have affected the condition of the ship, which is why it needs urgent repairs. In addition, the armament and onboard equipment are already outdated and must be replaced for the further operation of the ship. For these reasons, the Ministry of Defense ordered the repair and upgrade of the missile cruiser.
Heavy nuclear missile cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" (former "Kalinin") of project 11442 laid up at OJSC "PO" Sevmash ". Severodvinsk. Photo
According to reports, the modernization program of the cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" is designed for several years. During this time, specialists must examine the ship, determine its condition and draw up a list of necessary work. So, the creation of a technical project for the modernization of the ship was given 21 months from the date of signing the contract. The project is being developed by the Northern Design Bureau (St. Petersburg). The modernization project is supposed to be designated by the index 11442M.
The modernization program for the nuclear-powered cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" is complex and expensive - the estimated cost of repair and re-equipment of the ship is estimated at 50 billion rubles. In addition, the work will take several years. The cruiser will return to the combat strength of the Northern Fleet no earlier than 2018. After that, according to some information, the Sevmash plant will begin the modernization of another project 11442 ship - the cruiser Peter the Great.
Currently, preparatory work is underway, after which the repair of the heavy nuclear missile cruiser will begin. Now the workers of the Sevmash shipyard are building two pontoons, with the help of which the cruiser will be transferred through the threshold of the bathoport and placed in the filling pool of the shipyard. According to the plans for the current 2014, the ship "Admiral Nakhimov" will be brought into the filling basin of the enterprise in the next few months. In addition, some preparatory work is to be done this year.
According to reports, in the course of the upcoming modernization, the cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" should receive new electronic equipment and new weapons. The systems installed on the ship have rather high characteristics, however, in order to keep the cruiser in the navy, they must be replaced. For obvious reasons, the exact plans for the replacement of equipment and weapons have not yet been announced. Moreover, there is every reason to believe that by now the requirements for the complex of weapons have not been fully defined. There are various assumptions about the possible composition of the weapons of the upgraded ship, but none of them has yet been officially confirmed.
The main strike weapon of the Project 11442 cruisers was the 3K45 Granit missile system. Each of the Orlan ships carries 20 oblique launchers for this type of missile. Rockets "Granite", according to various sources, are capable of hitting targets at ranges of up to 500-550 kilometers. For the implementation of air defense, the cruisers of the Orlan project are equipped with the S-300F Fort anti-aircraft missile system with an ammunition load of several types of missiles. To protect against aircraft or enemy missiles at short ranges, cruisers carry the Osa-M and Dagger air defense systems. In addition, Project 11442 ships have several artillery systems. The ships' artillery armament includes two AK-130 installations with 130 mm guns and eight AK-630M automatic cannons. To destroy enemy submarines, cruisers can use the URPK-6 Vodopad-NK missile system and RBU-6000 or RBU-1000 rocket launchers.
All available weapons systems allow performing assigned combat missions, but in some situations their characteristics may be insufficient. In addition, most of the weapons of the Orlan cruisers were developed relatively long ago and are becoming obsolete both morally and materially. In this regard, the replacement of weapons looks like a correct and logical way of developing the Admiral Nakhimov ship, and in the future, possibly, its sisterships.
Missile systems of two types can be considered as a new strike weapon. The cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov", depending on the wishes of the military, can be equipped with the P-800 "Onyx" or "Caliber" complex. It should be noted that when using Onyx missiles, the ship's ammunition will remain the same - only 20 missiles of this type can be placed in the dimensions of the existing launchers. When using the "Caliber" system, the total ammunition load of a cruiser can be many times greater. According to some reports, launchers for 80 missiles for various purposes can be installed on the project 11442 cruiser.
Missile systems "Onyx" and "Caliber" have both advantages and disadvantages. They are capable of delivering a warhead to a range of up to 300 kilometers, but at the same time they have different flight characteristics. So, the missiles of the Onyx complex in flight develop speeds of up to 750 m / s, and the Caliber system ammunition resembles a marching section of flight at a subsonic speed. Despite the differences in flight data and warhead weight, both missiles can complement each other. Therefore, it is suggested that in the course of modernization the cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" will receive launchers of two missile systems at once.
The use of several different types of missiles, including those that are part of the same complex, will provide greater flexibility in the use of such strike weapons. It should be noted that a similar idea has been used for several decades on American Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. These ships are equipped with the Mark 41 universal launchers, thanks to which they can carry 122 (Ticonderoga cruisers) or 96 (Arleigh Burke destroyers) missiles of various types. The Mark 41 launcher can be used with several types of anti-aircraft, anti-ship and anti-submarine missiles. The specific composition of the missile ammunition is determined in accordance with the task.
The architecture of the strike missile armament complex, with certain modifications, makes it possible to equip Project 11442 cruisers with universal launchers. However, one should not forget some of the features of the available weapons. The "Granit" missiles, which are armed with the ships of the "Orlan" project, are placed in inclined launchers, which imposes corresponding restrictions on the modernization of strike weapons. How this problem will be solved is not completely clear. Perhaps, within the framework of the project for the modernization of the cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov", a promising launcher with the appropriate dimensions will be created, designed to use new missiles.
The basis of the anti-aircraft weapons of the cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov", apparently, will remain the missile systems of the S-300F family. At the same time, there is a version according to which the ship will receive a vertical launcher for the Poliment-Redut air defense missile system. The composition of short-range air defense systems may remain the same, but at the same time, the possibility of installing new systems, such as ZRAK "Broadsword" and the like, cannot be ruled out.
The modernization of the missile cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" should be completed by 2018. Soon after that, another ship of the Orlan project, Peter the Great, will be docked. The timing of the completion of work on the upgrade of the second ship is still unknown. Probably, the modernization will take at least 2-3 years, which is why the flagship of the Northern Fleet will return to service only at the beginning of the next decade. The plans of the fleet command for two ships of project 1144 are generally clear: over the next ten years, they will undergo repairs, and also receive new equipment and weapons. The future of the other two heavy nuclear-powered missile cruisers has yet to be determined.
The lead ship of Project 1144, "Kirov", was decommissioned from the Northern Fleet in the early nineties. According to reports, this ship has a severely damaged power plant, due to which it cannot continue to serve. The existing problems do not allow to quickly return it to service, and repair work may be impractical due to the nature of the damage. The further fate of the Kirov ship has not yet been determined. Perhaps a decision will be made within the next few years.
The future of the first ship, built according to the updated project 11442, also raises questions. The cruiser "Admiral Lazarev" has been in sludge since the end of the nineties. Moreover, at that time there were proposals to dispose of the ship, since the country was not able to carry out all the necessary repair work on time. However, the cruiser was retained. In 2011, when the first information about the modernization of the Orlan project cruisers appeared, it was repeatedly stated that the Admiral Lazarev would be repaired and modernized soon after the Admiral Nakhimov. In the future, information on the topic of possible repair of the ship "Admiral Lazarev" was not confirmed or denied.
The available information about the plans to upgrade the cruisers of the 1144 project can be interpreted in different ways. In particular, there is reason for concern about the fate of the Kirov and Admiral Lazarev ships. In the case of the lead Orlan, the main problem is damage to the units. It is possible that their nature will not allow the cruiser to be repaired, as a result of which it will be written off and scrapped. Approximate terms of repair and modernization of the ships "Admiral Nakhimov" and "Peter the Great" hint at the unenviable future of "Admiral Lazarev". The production facilities of the Sevmash plant, where it is possible to carry out all the necessary work, will be released only at the beginning of the twenties. What state the Admiral Lazarev will be in by this time is a big question. The cost and feasibility of repairing and modernizing the old ship (by this time it will be more than 35 years old) will determine its future fate.
The modernization program of the heavy nuclear missile cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" and other ships of the project 1144 is of great interest. Nevertheless, the work started relatively recently, which is why most of the details of the project remain unknown to the general public. As a result, the modernization program raises a lot of questions that still remain unanswered. I would like to hope that all current and future work will give a simple and understandable answer: "Eagles" with new weapons will return to the ranks of the Russian Navy and increase its combat effectiveness.
