Floating Dreams: Why the Soviet Aircraft Carrier Program Never Set to Sea
Due to history, costs, and geography, Moscow was, and remains, redominantly a land power not a naval power.
Key point: Soviet naval planners dreamed of a mighty fleet of super aircraft carriers. However, high costs, technological hurdles, and a lack of political will meant such a fleet was never constructed.
The Soviet Union was one of the largest, most industrial proficient countries the world has ever seen. Yet for all of its engineering talent and manufacturing capacity, during the seventy-four years the USSR existed it never fielded a true real aircraft carrier. The country had several plans to build them, however, and and was working on a true carrier, the
The Russian Navy
Kirov-class nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser
Admiral Nakhimov was one of the Soviet Navy’s largest and most powerful warships. However, she has spent most of her career waiting for a substantial upgrade to be completed. The vessel is now set to get a new lease on life that could also keep the aging warship in service for at least another decade or longer if the ongoing refit is ever actually completed.
Laid down in May 1983 at the Baltic Shipyard and launched in April 1986, the battlecruiser was commissioned into the Soviet Navy on December 30, 1988 as the
Kalinin. Renamed in 1992 in honor of Pavel Nakhimov, an admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy who commanded the naval and land forces during the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War, this is the fifth warship to bear his name.
"Due to problems with suppliers, the handover of the Admiral Nakhimov cruiser to the fleet is postponed until 2023 at best," a defense industry source told Tass on Wednesday.
Как связан принц Филипп и Российская императорская семья 5-tv.ru - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from 5-tv.ru Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
How photography became a hobby of the Romanovs Anastasiya Karagodina The early 1900s witnessed a global photo revolution, and the Russian royal family was not immune to this trend. This series of pictures from 1915-1916 shows the daily lives and characters of the Romanov family and their closest circle.
Tsar Nicholas II. / Getty Images
The royal family shared an interest in photography, which was popular in the early 20th century across Europe and the U.S. The progress in photo equipment made it affordable to the wider public, and the Russian Emperor himself grew fond of this activity.
Children of Tsar Nicholas II. / Getty Images