Soviet Alternative Carriers

Kiev, Project 1143, NATO 'Kuril' Class, 1975

My alternate RN needs suitable threats to face and so here is the 'Kuril' Class carrier.
The first of three Pr.1173 aviation cruisers were laid down in 1973 at South Yard, Nikolayev. Designed to support Soviet ASW groups these ships offered far superior capabilities to the two Pr.1123 Moskva Class ships completed during the 1960s. The ships combined a powerful air defence capability through medium-range SAMs and the Yak-36M V/STOL fighters carried along with a useful anti-submarine armament comprised of Ka-25 helicopters supported by ship-launched missiles and rockets. Each was equipped as a flagship. The three ships completed were; Kiev, Minsk and Kharkov.
Displacement: 40,000 tons
Dimensions: 281m (long), 60.9m (beam, including flightdeck)
Armament: 2x SA-N-3 SAM launchers, 3x SA-N-4 SAM launchers, 1x SUW-N-1 ASW missile laucher, 6x2 57mm guns, 8x2 30mm guns, 2x RBU-6000 ASW rocket mortars
Airgroup: 25x Yak-36M 'Freehand' V/STOL fighters and 25x Ka-25 'Hormone-A' helicopters
Speed: at least 30kts

Real World: The Kuril was a misidentified Kiev Class. In 1973 DOD analysts only had satellite photos of the hull of Kiev then under construction and they supposed the Kiev would combine the features of the Moskva with a larger flight deck. The drawing above is based on the artists impression republished in The Hybrid Warship and a line drawing produced by Janes around the same time, presumably based on the same artwork. This was reproduced in the 1976 novel A Game of Titans the only time the Kuril made its appearance in fiction. Quite soon however the real armament of the Kievs became clear and NATO dropped the 'Kuril' designation. The analysts for some bizarre reason assumed a gun armament of 28 57mm guns, the mounts in Janes looking like the older ZiF-31 mounts. I decided to make more use of the 30mm.
The Yak-36 is all-new (I've included a basic version in case anyone wants it) and I've touched up the old Ka-25 a bit too. Golly is fully credited here, because although the ship is 90% mine, I've ripped several elements from Golly's excellent Novgorod and Soviet carriers.

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Project 1808.1 Volga, 1985

With the creation of the Soviet carrier fleet in the early 1970s with the adoption of the Project 1143 'Kuril' class, the Soviet Navy began to look at a cheaper training platform for V/STOL fighter pilots. Having approved plans for a large replenishment ship the first hull was halted and converted into a mini carrier with a hangar, offset deck but retaining its modest self-defence armament. During construction the idea of a ski-jump to enable rolling take-offs had become established and following shore-based trials the offset flight deck was rebuilt with a ski-jump before commissioning. In wartime she would serve as an additional anti-submarine carrier. The Volga was commissioned on 24 July 1978 and would serve with the Black Sea Fleet until its retirement in May 1996.

Displacement: 26,000 tons
Dimensions: 217.6m (long, overall), 200.4m (long, waterline), 34m (beam, including flightdeck), 30m (beam, hull)
Armament: 1x2 Zif-122 Osa-M SA-N-4 'Gecko' SAM launcher, 2x4 Strela-2M SA-N-5 'Grail' SAM launchers, 2x2 76mm AK-176 gun mounts, 3x 30mm AK-630 CIWS mounts, 2x RBU-1000 ASW rocket launchers
Airgroup: 20x Yak-36M 'Freehand-A' or Yak-38 'Forger-A' V/STOL fighters or Yak-38U 'Forger-B' V/STOL fighter trainers and 4x (or 30x) Ka-25 'Hormone-A' helicopters
Machinery: 2x 16500shp T-1 gas turbines
Speed: 22kts
Complement: 587

Drawing Note: my fictional design for a Shipbucket design contest but based on known Soviet auxiliary tender hull designs with influence from the British RFA Argus of the same period.

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Tbilisi, Project 1143.5, NATO 'Black-Com-2' Class, 1988

The first of two Pr.1143.5 aviation cruisers were laid down in 1982 at South Yard, Nikolayev. Designed to support Soviet ASW groups as an improved Project 1143 Kiev class design with three deck-edge lifts and two steam-catapults. The Tbilisi completed in 1988 and was assigned as the flagship of the Black Sea fleet and was followed in 1989 by the Riga which was assigned to the Pacific Fleet just as the Communist regime fell in 1990.

Displacement: 60,000 tons
Dimensions: 272m(long, overall), 80m (beam, including flightdeck)
Armament: 16x VLS tubes for SS-N-19 'Shipwreck' supersonic anti-ship missiles, 24x SA-N-6 'Grumble' SAM launchers, 2x2 SA-N-4 'Gecko' SAM launchers, 2x1 100mm AK-100 gun mounts, 8x 30mm AK-630 CIWS mounts, 2x RBU-6000 ASW rocket launchers
Airgroup: navalised Su-27 'Flanker' fighters and Ka-27 'Helix' helicopters
Machinery: 250,000shp steam turbines
Speed: 30-32kts
Complement: 5,000

Real World: By early 1984 rumours began to circulate about a successor to the Kiev class and in August 1984 satellite reconnaissance revealed the hull of the Project 1143.5 Riga, which would later be better known as Tbilisi and later still completed as the Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov. The bow section was incomplete and so speculation continued in the West as to what the new carrier would look like. Would it be a conventional carrier or a heavily armed cruiser-carrier built for power projection. Speculation favoured the heavily armed solution. The design shown here was based on an unattributed Japanese study and illustrated an article by Siegfried Breyer in Naval Forces. This design has the same Kirov-esque heavy missile battery but slightly toned down and actually seems to emphasise anti-air rather than anti-submarine capabilities.

Drawing Notes: no dimensions for this design were given but from scaling the drawing it was clear that the the hull was based on that of the Kiev in size rather than being a 'supercarrier'. Being drawn in 1982 the design is very much a warmed-up Kiev. The deck-edge lift forming the end of the angled deck (actually more of a laterally displaced axial deck) is an odd feature but otherwise the design seems actually seems more well thought out than the 'Kreml' which appeared a few months later.

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Kreml (Kremlin), Project 1143.7, NATO 'Kreml' Class, 1989

The first of two Pr.1143.7 aviation cruisers were laid down in 1982 at South Yard, Nikolayev. Designed to support Soviet ASW groups and offer power projection across the world, these ships offered far superior capabilities with powerful missile armament backed up by an effective air group and a contingent of Marines. Only the Kreml was completed, commissioning in 1989 shortly before the collapse of the USSR. On commissioning the Kreml was assigned to the Northern Fleet.
Displacement: 75,000 tons
Dimensions: 335m (long, overall), 90m (beam, including flightdeck), 40m (beam, hull)
Armament: 20x VLS tubes for SS-N-19 'Shipwreck' supersonic anti-ship missiles, 1x2 SS-N-14 'Silex' ASW missile launcher (plus reload missiles), 12 SA-N-6 'Grumble' SAM launchers, 2x2 76mm gun mounts, 9x 30mm AK-630 CIWS mounts, 2x5 533mm torpedo tubes for torpedoes and SS-N-15 'Starfish' ASW missiles, 1x RBU-6000 ASW rocket launcher
Airgroup: 70x navalised Su-27 'Flanker' fighters (and including navalised Sukhoi Su-25 'Frogfoot' attack aircraft) plus Ka-27 'Helix' helicopters
Machinery: 2 nuclear reactors supplying steam to 4 turbines, 250,000shp
Speed: 30-32kts
Complement: 5,000 plus a Marine infantry contingent of 1,500

Real World: By early 1984 rumours began to circulate about a successor to the Kiev class and in August 1984 satellite reconnaissance revealed the hull of the Project 1143.5 Riga, which would later be better known as Tbilisi and later still completed as the Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov. The bow section was incomplete and so speculation continued in the West as to what the new carrier would look like. Would it be a conventional carrier or a heavily armed cruiser-carrier built for power projection. Speculation favoured the heavily armed solution, indeed as completed the Kuznetsov had a powerful battery of 12 SS-N-19 anti-ship missiles, but the Western speculations were far more powerful. The design shown here, dubbed the i]Kreml[/i], was presented in Strategy and Defence in October 1984. The design had two steam catapults on the angled deck for 70 navalised 'Flankers' and a powerful missile battery modelled on that of the Project 1144 Kirov class. Oddly only long-range SAMs were presented despite the large Su-27 airgroup (which could probably never been fitted into such a hull). Being sketched in 1984 the design lacks a phased-array radar, so has a dated radar outfit compared to the Pr.1143.4 Baku which completed in 1988.
The West saw the Soviet carrier fleet as being a key part of global projection, so much so that, like this design, they assumed they would carry Soviet Marines and by the late 1980s rumours (perhaps started by the existence of the Su-25UTG deck trainers) circulated that the carriers would carry Su-25 'Frogfoot' ground attack aircraft. Therefore I have included a modified Su-25 based on the Su-25TM/Su-39 airframe with the raised cockpit. What we have here is an interesting semi-accurate glimpse of the reality but incorrect in many ways and perhaps far too ambitious to be workable.

Drawing Note: I first drew this ship probably 10-12 years ago and although this started as a modernisation it ended up a 100% redraw. Golly's Kiev parts were invaluable in completing this. The original drawing had some rather funky deck heights and layouts and odd angles. I've done my best to interpret them and rejig them into accurate forms that could be workable, but it is rather a complicated island compared to the real ships. I have redrawn the previous Su-33K from scratch and it is now far more accurate and I have kitbashed a naval Su-25.

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Tbilisi, Project 1143.5, NATO 'Tbilisi' Class, 1990

The first of two Pr.1143.5 aviation cruisers were laid down in January 1983 at South Yard, Nikolayev. Designed to support Soviet ASW groups as an improved Project 1143 Kiev class design with three deck-edge lifts and two steam-catapults. The Tbilisi completed in 1990 and was assigned to the Northern Fleet just as the Communist regime fell in 1990. Her unnamed sister had been laid down in December 1985 with a planned completion date of 1991-92 but due to the fall of the USSR was never completed.

Displacement: 60,000 tons
Dimensions: 300m(long, overall), 73.38m (beam, including flightdeck), 11m draught
Armament: 16x VLS tubes for SS-N-19 'Shipwreck' supersonic anti-ship missiles, 4x SA-N-9 'Gauntlet' SAM launchers, 8x 30mm AK-630 CIWS mounts, 2x RBU-6000 ASW rocket launchers
Airgroup: 12x navalised Su-27B2 'Flanker' fighters, 12x Yak-41 VTOL fighters and 15-18x Ka-27 'Helix' helicopters
Machinery: 250,000shp gas turbines
Speed: 32kts

Real World: This design comes from the 1989-90 Edition of Janes Fighting Ships. Even by this date much of the details of the Project 1143.5 were still unknown. The drawing by Ian Sturton was a good guess but not completely correct. Janes knew the ships would not be nuclear-powered, but rather bizarrely guessed that they might be gas turbine powered, unlikely for a ship this size (though I think a paired arrangement of the Pr.1164 Atlant powerplant might work). Even the name of the second hull was unknown. The airwing was largely correct, they predicted the Su-27 would be the likely choice for a naval fighter. The armament was sketcky, Janes estimating that 76mm or 100mm gun mounts might be fitted. Its an interesting speculative design which belongs to this thread.

Drawing Notes: dimensions for this design were given but the drawing is clearly labelled "not to scale". It is clear that Ian Sturton has based the hull on the US DoD artist's impressions and actually captures some of the elements of the real ship. The island is simply that of the Project 1143.4 Baku transplanted onto this hull. There was no underwater hull so I have used more or less the earlier Project 1143 style hull. The hangar deck was look rather low, again this is an aretfact of the drawing and I wanted to maintain the spirit of the original drawing.

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Volgograd, Airborne Headquarters Ship, 1995

First schemed in 1983, perhaps due to lessons learned from the British Royal Navy during the Falklands War, the Soviet Navy schemed an Airborne Headquarters Ship to provide command facilities for Soviet naval task forces, especially those featuring naval aviation ships. Although not given much priority, Volgograd was laid down in 1990 and uniquely was completed in 1995 by the Russian Navy as a relatively cheap means to get aviation assets afloat without operating expensive carriers.

Displacement: 25,000 tons
Dimensions: 227.8m(long, overall), 37.8m (beam, including flightdeck), 8m draught
Armament: 2x Kortik CIWS, 1x 100mm AK-100, 2x5 53mm torpedo tubes for torpedoes & RPK-2 Vyuga, 1x RBU-6000 ASW rocket launchers
Airgroup: a mix of Yak-41 VTOL fighters and Ka-27 'Helix' helicopters
Machinery: gas turbines
Speed: 32kts

Real World: This design comes from the book Alternative: Unbuilt ships of Russian Imperial Navy and Soviet Navy by A. N. Sokolov. Little information is given and its shown as part of the appendix of other designs, its simply called 'Airborne Headquarters Ship' and dates from 1983. The concept never made it to the Shipbuilding Plan.

Drawing Notes: The drawing in Sokolov's book is very basic and crudely scaled. No dimensions were given so I scaled this off the AK-100 and other items, so this cannot really classify as a proper 'never-were' drawing due to the lack of solid information and the rather speculative features of the drawing.
For example, unlike most Soviet ships this design looks very under-armed. Only one RBU is fitted plus 533mm torpedo tubes. No CIWS were shown in the drawing and ahead of the AK-100 was shown one single circle which I presume may have been an 'Gauntlet' VLS but no fire-control radar was shown (also very odd that only one SA-N-9 would be fitted if it is that missile). So I have left off any SAMs. Two EW radomes suited low on the hull sides looked like a rather odd feature to me, so supposing these may have been placeholders for Kortik, I have added them to the drawing to add some proper self-defence capability.
Lastly, seeing that Gollevainien has used Sokolev's speculative drawings of radars etc. for his own Novogorod AU which matched this ship, I have stolen some of his EW equipment for this ship in the absence of real Soviet next-gen kit to properly illustrate this concept. So this drawing should be considered an AU design based on a real concept.

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Soviet Alternative Carriers

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