Soviet aircraft carrier Ulyanovsk

Department of Defense artwork of a Soviet nuclear-powered aircraft carrier similar to Ulyanovsk, under construction.
Class overview
Name:	Ulyanovsk class
Builders:	Chernomorsky Shipyard 444
Operators:	Soviet Navy
Preceded by:	Kuznetsov class
Succeeded by:	Project 23000E
Planned:	1
Cancelled:	1
History
Soviet Union
Name:	Ulyanovsk (Russian: Улья́новск)
Ordered:	11 June 1986
Laid down:	25 November 1988 at Nikolayev 444
Launched:	1995 (planned)
Struck:	1 November 1991
Fate:	Scrapped at 20% completion
General characteristics
Type:	Aircraft carrier
Displacement:	65,800 tonnes standard 75,000 tonnes full load
Length:	321.2 m (1,054 ft) overall
Beam:	83.9 m (275 ft) overall 40 m (130 ft) at waterline
Draught:	10.6 m (35 ft)
Propulsion:	4 × KN-3 nuclear reactors 4 × steam turbines, four shafts, 280,000 shp (210,000 kW)
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h)
Range:	Unlimited distance; 20–25 years
Endurance:	Limited only by supplies
Complement:	3,400 total
Armament:	12 × P-700 Granit SSMs, Buk SAMs, 8 × CADS-N-1 CIWS, 8 × AK-630 rotary anti-aircraft cannons
Aircraft carried:	68 aircraft total 44 Sukhoi Su-33 and/or Mikoyan MiG-29K 6 × Yak-44 radar picket aircraft 16 Kamov Ka-27 ASW helicopters 2 Kamov Ka-27PS SAR helicopters

Ulyanovsk (Russian: Улья́новск; IPA: [ʊˈlʲjanəfsk]) was begun as the first of a class of Soviet nuclear-powered supercarriers but was abandoned before completion intended for the first time to offer true blue water aviation capability for the Soviet Navy.

Ulyanovsk was based upon the 1975 Project 1153 OREL, which did not get beyond blueprints. The initial commissioned name was to be Kremlin, but was later given the name Ulyanovsk after the Soviet town of Ulyanovsk, which was originally named Simbirsk but later renamed after Vladimir Lenin's original name because he was born there.

It would have been 85,000 tonnes in displacement (larger than the older Forrestal-class carriers but smaller than contemporary Nimitz class of the U.S. Navy). Ulyanovsk would have been able to launch the full range of fixed-wing carrier aircraft, as it was equipped with two catapults as well as a ski jump. The configuration would have been very similar to U.S. Navy carriers though with the typical Soviet practice of adding anti-ship missile (ASM) and surface-to-air missile (SAM) launchers. Its hull was laid down in 1988, but construction was cancelled at 20% complete in January 1991 and a planned second unit was never laid down. Scrapping began on 4 February 1992 and was completed by the end of October 1992.