Soviet helicopter carrier Leningrad

Leningrad underway in 1990.
History
Soviet Union
Name:	Leningrad
Namesake:	Leningrad
Builder:	Nikolayev South (Shipyard No.444)
Laid down:	15 January 1965
Launched:	31 July 1966
Commissioned:	2 June 1969
Decommissioned:	1991
Fate:	scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type:	Moskva-class helicopter carrier
Displacement:	11,920 tons (standard) 15,280 tons (loaded)
Length:	189.0 m
Beam:	34.0 m
Draught:	7.7 m
Propulsion:	2 shaft steam turbines, 4 pressure fire boilers, 100,000 hp
Speed:	31 knots (57 km/h)
Range:	14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement:	850
Armament:	SA-N-3 'Goblet' SAM 2 twin launchers, 2 × twin 57 mm guns, 1 × SUW-N-1 launcher for FRAS-1 anti submarine missiles, 2 × RBU-6000 ASW rockets, 10 × 553 mm torpedo tubes (2 × 5)
Aircraft carried:	14 Ka-27 'Helix' helicopters

Leningrad was the second of two Moskva class helicopter carriers in service with the Soviet Navy. Laid down at Nikolayev South (Shipyard No.444), Leningrad was commissioned in late 1968. Preceded by Moskva, there were no further vessels built, reportedly due to the poor handling of the ships in rough seas. She was conventionally powered.

The Moskvas were not true "aircraft carriers" in that they did not carry any fixed-wing aircraft; the air wing was composed entirely of helicopters. They were designed primarily as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) vessels, and her weapons and sensor suite was optimized against the nuclear submarine threat. Shipboard ASW armament included a twin SUW-N-1 launcher capable of delivering a FRAS-1 projectile carrying a 450 mm torpedo (or a 5 kiloton nuclear warhead); a pair of RBU-6000 ASW mortars; and a set of torpedo tubes. For self-defense, the Moskvas had two twin SA-N-3 SAM launchers with reloads for a total of 48 surface-to-air missiles, along with two twin 57 mm/80 guns. A "Mare Tail" variable depth sonar worked in conjunction with heliborne sensors to hunt submarines.

Their strategic role was to defend the Soviet ballistic missile submarine bastions against incursions by Western attack submarines, forming the flagships of an ASW task force.