Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier

Class overview
Kuznetsov in January 1996
Name:	Kuznetsov class
Builders:	Chernomorsky Shipyard 444
Operators:	Soviet Navy Russian Navy People's Liberation Army Navy
Preceded by:	Kiev class
Succeeded by:	Ulyanovsk class (cancelled) Project 23000E (planned) Type 002 (planned)
Subclasses:	Type 001 Type 001A
Built:	1982 – present
In commission:	25 December 1990 – present
Building:	1
Completed:	2
Active:	2
General characteristics
Class and type:	Heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser
Displacement:	43,000-tonnes, light 53,000 – 55,200-tonnes, standard 58,600 – 67,500-tonnes, max
Length:	305 m (1,001 ft)
Beam:	72 m (236 ft)
Draught:	11 m (36 ft)
Propulsion:	Steam turbines 80,000 shp (60,000 kW) 200,000 shp (150,000 kW)
Speed:	29 kn (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Range:	8,500 nmi (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) @ 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph) 3,800 nmi (7,000 km; 4,400 mi) @ 29 kn (54 km/h; 33 mph)
Complement:	1,500
Armament:	12 P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) anti-ship missiles 192 3K95 Kinzhal (SA-N-9 Gauntlet) SAMs 8 Kashtan CIWS mounts 6 AK-630 AA guns 1 UDAV-1 ASW rocket launcher
Aircraft carried:	30–50 18–32 × fixed wing aircraft 17–24 × helicopters
Aviation facilities:	Angled arrested landing flight deck Bow ski-jump

The Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers were the last class of aircraft carriers commissioned into the Soviet Navy. They are also the first class of aircraft carriers commissioned into the Chinese Navy, where they are known as the Type 001 and Type 001A aircraft carriers.

The design represented a major advance in Soviet fleet aviation over the Kiev-class carriers, which could only launch VSTOL aircraft. As the first Soviet carriers to be built with aircraft ski-jumps, the Kuznetsov-class carriers were capable of launching high-performance conventional aircraft. The design was to have been followed by the catapult-equipped Ulyanovsk-class supercarriers.

Due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Kuznetsov-class ships were built over a protracted period of four decades. Kuznetsov was commissioned into the Soviet Navy in 1990 and serves today in the Russian Navy. Liaoning was sold to China, which finally commissioned the ship in 2012. Shandong is under construction as of 2017 and is expected to be ready for sea trials in 2019.

The Kuznetsov-class ships were described by their Soviet builders as tyazholiy avianesushchiy kreyser (TAKR or TAVKR) – “heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser” – intended to support and defend strategic missile-carrying submarines, surface ships, and maritime missile-carrying aircraft of the Soviet fleet. In its fleet defense role, the Admiral Kuznetsov's P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 NATO reporting name: Shipwreck) anti-ship cruise missiles, 3K95 Kinzhal (Gauntlet) surface-to-air missiles, and Su-33 (Flanker-D) aircraft are its main weapons. The fixed-wing aircraft on Kuznetsov are intended for air superiority operations to protect a deployed task force. The carrier also carries numerous helicopters for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and search and rescue (SAR) operations.

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