Russian Navy Nuclear Guided Missile Cruiser

Kirov, the lead ship of her class of nuclear-powered missile cruisers, is one of the major and biggest surface warships of the Russian Navy, though it was originally built for the Soviet Navy. It is similar in displacement to a World War I battleship. Although commissioned as a missile cruiser, Kirov's size and weapons complement have given her the unofficial designation of a battlecruiser throughout much of the world. The appearance of the Kirov class was a significant factor in the U.S. Navy recommissioning the Iowa class. She was named after Sergey Kirov, a Bolshevik hero.

She was laid down on March 27, 1974, at the Baltiysky Naval Shipyard in Leningrad, launched on December 26, 1977, and commissioned on December 30, 1980, part of Soviet Northern Fleet. When she appeared for the first time in 1981, NATO observers called her BALCOM I (Baltic Combatant I). She was placed in reserve in 1990 following a reactor accident. For political reasons, Kirov was renamed Admiral Ushakov after the 18th-century admiral Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov in 1992, but subsequent photos suggest that it has since reverted to its original name. An overhaul was started in 1999, but the ship was written off in 2001 and was slated to be dismantled in 2003. In 2010, the Russian navy again announced new plans for an overhaul of the cruiser. The plans are now to modify and reactivate all of the Kirov battlecruisers by 2020
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