Posted on 08/05/2016 5:31:16 AM PDT by C19fan
In the 1970s, the Soviet Union embarked on a project to do what no navy had done for decades — build a surface warfare vessel comparable in size to the battleships of World War I and World War II. The U.S. Navy — and every other navy in the world — had given up on ships of this size due to expense and vulnerability. Why concentrate capabilities in a single ship which could quickly fall victim to missiles and torpedoes?
(Excerpt) Read more at warisboring.com ...
The article seems to say there’s only one left in operation. Perhaps the headline should be “Battlecruiser”, singular.
The Russians built the Kirov class BECAUSE they couldn’t build and operate CVNs. THey are CV substitutes.
The Kirovs are heavily armed - their ‘air wing’ is 20 SS-N-19 ‘Shipwreck’ missiles. Their ‘CAP’ is hundreds of SAMs of various types. Their role is to counter the US Carrier Groups. They use their escorts and air defense to get close enough to salvo their ASMs, then leave or die.
I really think that the Iowa and her three sisters need to be recommissioned and upgraded with missile systems. They don’t have that many “miles” on them and their armor would allow them to survive most conventional weapons.
Of course, to do this, we would first need a President with the balls to restore our American military.
I read the article, it is pretty much a joke to compare the Kirovs with an Iowa class battleship, or even a South Dakota or North Carolina class (which are closer in displacement to a Kirov class)
I would be astonished to learn they have any amount of armor that would give them anywhere near the same level of protection as any American battleship.
The Kirovs appear to be big for the purpose of being big, and of all Soviet ships, are probably the best looking, but I don’t think there is any comparison to an Iowa class. Sure, they carry more missiles but the ASW mission would be a joke for the Kirovs, IMO.
No matter what armaments they carry, once you blow the antennas off they are targets.
Reagan did that in the eighties. The problem isn’t the miles its the years. They are WWII platforms designed to be manned by thousands compared to modern ships that are increasingly automated. The costs to run one would run several smaller ships that could together provide similar levels of capability but not present such a large singular target. While sinking one might be relatively difficult, the enemy might be just as pleased to disable it so as to remove it from the fight.
Scenario is an interesting thought exercise, much like wondering what a sports team would be like if you had legendary superstars on it. However, in this scenario, the Kirov location is known, but is not harassed from the air, which makes no sense.
One thing I have always noticed on Russian ships is the amount of rust.
The photo of the The ‘Frunze’ at the site confirms this observation.
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