Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier

Class overview
Kuznetsov in January 1996
Name:	Kuznetsov class
Builders:	Chernomorskiy Shipyard 444 Dalian Shipbuilding Industry
Operators:	Soviet Navy Russian Navy People's Liberation Army Navy
Preceded by:	Kiev class
Succeeded by:	Ulyanovsk class (cancelled) Project 23000E (planned) Type 002 (under construction)
Subclasses:	Type 001 Type 001A
Built:	1982–2019 (estimated)
In commission:	25 December 1990–present
Building:	1
Active:	2
General characteristics
Class and type:	Heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser
Displacement:	43,000 tons, light 53,000–55,200 tons, standard 58,600–67,500 tons, 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

Chernomorskiy Shipyard 444

The Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier was the last class of aircraft carrier commissioned into the Soviet Navy. 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. Only the lead ship Admiral Kuznetsov was completed and commissioned into the Soviet Navy, and the ship now serves in the Russian Navy.

The second, unfinished ship, was sold by Ukraine to China to be used for non-military purposes. However, China undertook to complete the ship for the Chinese Peoples' Army (Navy) as its first class of aircraft carriers, receiving a type designation of Type 001. This aircraft carrier was commissioned in 2012 as Liaoning after a protracted 27-year construction period in Ukraine and China. A Type 001A ship was launched in 2017 and is expected to be commissioned 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, 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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