# Russian battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy (Пётр Великий)
**Pyotr Velikiy** (Пётр Великий, "Peter the Great") is the fourth and last Project 1144 Orlan (NATO reporting name Kirov-class) nuclear-powered heavy missile cruiser of the [Russian Navy](https://www.edgepedia.org/russian-navy), laid down as *Yuriy Andropov*, launched in 1989, and in service since 1998 or 1999 (sources differ) with the [Northern Fleet](https://www.edgepedia.org/northern-fleet), whose flagship she has been.[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) At about 252 meters long and roughly 24,000 tons displacement, she and her three sisters are the largest surface combatants in the world apart from aircraft carriers.[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Class and hull | Fourth of four Project 1144 Orlan ships; built to the improved Project 1144.2 design; pennant number 099[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) • [2](https://weaponsystems.net/system/1547-Project%201144%20Orlan%20class) |
| Names | Laid down as *Yuriy Andropov*; renamed Pyotr Velikiy in 1992 after the Soviet collapse[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) |
| Dimensions and displacement | 252 m length, 28.5 m beam, 9.1 m draft; about 24,000 tons[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) |
| Propulsion | CONAS plant: 2 KN-3 nuclear reactors with steam turbines; 30–32 knots; unlimited range on nuclear power[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) • [3](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html) |
| Strike armament | 20 P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) anti-ship missiles in fixed deck tubes[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) • [3](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html) |
| Air defense | 48 S-300F Fort and 48 S-300FM Fort-M (SA-N-20) long-range missiles, plus 3K95 Kinzhal point-defense SAMs and Kashtan close-in mounts[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) |
| Crew | 744 personnel[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) |
| Status | Modernization reportedly scrapped; laid up, with retirement possible as Admiral Nakhimov returns to service[4](https://securesustain.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/The-Military-Balance-2024_compressed.pdf) • [5](https://www.armyrecognition.com/archives/archives-naval-defense/naval-news-navy-2025/will-russia-scrap-its-nuclear-battlecruiser-pyotr-velikiy-to-save-money-for-future-ships) |
## Design and class background
The Kirov class was designed by the Northern Design Bureau in the 1970s as a nuclear surface ship that could operate in the north without a tanker chain and carry a heavy anti-carrier missile load; the requirement was to counter U.S. aircraft carrier groups.[3](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html) • [1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) Four ships were completed at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad and a fifth was canceled with the dissolution of the USSR.[3](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html) They were the first and last nuclear-powered surface missile ships of the [Soviet Navy](https://www.edgepedia.org/soviet-navy) and the largest non-carrier warships built by any state after the Second World War.[6](https://paintpit.ru/1144/)
Pyotr Velikiy is the first ship of the class built to the improved Project 1144.2 design.[2](https://weaponsystems.net/system/1547-Project%201144%20Orlan%20class) Compared with the lead ship, later hulls carry a twin 130 mm AK-130 gun instead of two single 100 mm AK-100 mounts, and a different anti-submarine missile arrangement.[3](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html) Her air-defense fit is heavier than her sisters': she mixes 48 S-300F Fort missiles with 48 of the newer S-300FM Fort-M, where earlier ships carried a single Fort battery.[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) • [3](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html)
## Propulsion
The ship uses a CONAS (combined nuclear and steam) plant with two KN-3 nuclear reactors and GT3A-688 steam turbines, giving 30 to 32 knots.[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) On nuclear power the range is effectively unlimited; the class can remain at sea for extended periods and circumnavigate the globe repeatedly without refueling, though running on the oil boilers alone limits endurance.[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) • [3](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html)
## Service history
Sources differ on the exact entry into service: one account gives 1998,[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) while the Bellona environmental foundation states she entered active service in the Northern Fleet in 1999.[7](https://network.bellona.org/content/uploads/sites/3/The_Arctic_Nuclear_Challenge.pdf)
Reports in March 2004 claimed that Admiral of the Fleet Vladimir Kuroyedov, who headed the Russian Navy as its commander-in-chief, had declared the ship unseaworthy owing to maintenance shortcomings, among them issues with her nuclear reactor.[8](https://naval-encyclopedia.com/cold-war/ussr/kirov-class-battlecruisers.php) She later returned to operations; in May 2016 the Northern Fleet press office reported she had gone to sea for the first time in two years after her technical readiness was restored.[9](https://tass.com/defense/875950)
**Long-range deployments.** In November 2008 Pyotr Velikiy sailed into the Caribbean with the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and support ships for exercises with the Venezuelan Navy; during the six-month deployment she also visited [Cape Town](https://www.edgepedia.org/cape-town), South Africa, and Mormugao, India, and was credited with capturing ten pirates off the coast of Somalia.[10](https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2015/december/russian-navy-putins-fleet-being) She has also deployed repeatedly to the Mediterranean, including visits to the Syrian port of Tartus.[10](https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2015/december/russian-navy-putins-fleet-being)
**The 2016 Syrian deployment.** In October 2016 she escorted Russia's only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, from Severomorsk through the [English Channel](https://www.edgepedia.org/english-channel), where the [Royal Navy](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-navy) shadowed the group, into the eastern Mediterranean in support of operations off Syria.[11](https://news.sky.com/story/russian-warships-to-pass-through-dover-strait-shadowed-by-royal-navy-10625732) • [12](https://jamestown.org/kuznetsov-smokescreen-russias-peculiar-naval-taskforce-syria/) The cruiser returned to Russia from the Mediterranean in February 2017.[13](https://tass.com/defense/929752/amp) A 2016 deployment of this kind was described by a Western diplomat as the largest Russian surface deployment since the end of the Cold War.[14](https://maritime-executive.com/article/russian-fleet-mobilizes-for-syria)
## Armament
The ship's strike armament is 20 [P-700 Granit](https://www.edgepedia.org/p-700-granit) (SS-N-19 [Shipwreck](https://www.edgepedia.org/shipwreck)) long-range anti-ship missiles in fixed deck tubes, the same weapon system fitted to Oscar-class submarines.[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) • [3](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html) Long-range air defense comes from the S-300F Fort and S-300FM Fort-M systems; point defense from 3K95 Kinzhal; and close-in defense from Kashtan gun-missile mounts.[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) • [3](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html) Anti-submarine weapons include RBU rocket launchers and 533 mm torpedo tubes.[1](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers) • [3](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html) A TASS report from 2016 said a planned 2019–2022 modernization would have added new armaments, including Tsirkon hypersonic missiles.[9](https://tass.com/defense/875950)
## Status and end of service
Pyotr Velikiy is the last Kirov still associated with the original Granit battery; her sister Admiral Nakhimov received a rebuild that replaced the P-700 battery with universal launch cells for Kalibr, Oniks, Zircon, and Otvet weapons.[15](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/p700-granit.html) • [16](https://www.battlepolicy.com/kirov-class/) According to The Military Balance 2024, Russia scrapped the modernization of Pyotr Velikiy, which the authors read as a possible shift away from sustaining the type.[4](https://securesustain.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/The-Military-Balance-2024_compressed.pdf) In April 2023 TASS reported that the cruiser would transfer her name to a new nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine of the Borei-A class.[17](https://seapower.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-05/Moscow%27s%20Pacific%20Trident.pdf) As of 2025 reporting, the ship remains laid up and may be retired instead of modernized, while Admiral Nakhimov, which began sea trials in the [White Sea](https://www.edgepedia.org/white-sea) on 18 August 2025, is expected to replace her as the Northern Fleet's flagship.[5](https://www.armyrecognition.com/archives/archives-naval-defense/naval-news-navy-2025/will-russia-scrap-its-nuclear-battlecruiser-pyotr-velikiy-to-save-money-for-future-ships) In August 2025 Admiral Sergey Avakyants, former commander of Russia's Pacific Fleet, argued in an Izvestia interview that repairing the ship would be an inefficient use of state resources.[5](https://www.armyrecognition.com/archives/archives-naval-defense/naval-news-navy-2025/will-russia-scrap-its-nuclear-battlecruiser-pyotr-velikiy-to-save-money-for-future-ships)
## References
1. [Kirov Class (Project 1144 Orlan) – Nuclear Battlecruiser Analysis, Naval Journal](https://navaljournal.com/en/article/kirov-class-project-1144-orlan-nuclear-battlecruisers)
2. [Project 1144 Orlan class, Weaponsystems.net](https://weaponsystems.net/system/1547-Project%201144%20Orlan%20class)
3. [Project 1144 Orlan // Kirov class, ProjectOrlan](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/project1144orlan.html)
4. [The Military Balance 2024, IISS](https://securesustain.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/The-Military-Balance-2024_compressed.pdf)
5. [Will Russia scrap its nuclear battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy to save money for future ships?, Army Recognition](https://www.armyrecognition.com/archives/archives-naval-defense/naval-news-navy-2025/will-russia-scrap-its-nuclear-battlecruiser-pyotr-velikiy-to-save-money-for-future-ships)
6. [Крейсер проекта 1144, история создания и конструкция, Paintpit](https://paintpit.ru/1144/)
7. [The Arctic Nuclear Challenge, Bellona Foundation](https://network.bellona.org/content/uploads/sites/3/The_Arctic_Nuclear_Challenge.pdf)
8. [Kirov class Battlecruisers (1977), Naval Encyclopedia](https://naval-encyclopedia.com/cold-war/ussr/kirov-class-battlecruisers.php)
9. [Russia's Northern Fleet flagship goes to sea first time in 2 years, TASS (16 May 2016)](https://tass.com/defense/875950)
10. [Russian Navy – Putin's 'Fleet in Being', U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, December 2015](https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2015/december/russian-navy-putins-fleet-being)
11. [Russian warships sail through English Channel shadowed by Royal Navy, Sky News (21 October 2016)](https://news.sky.com/story/russian-warships-to-pass-through-dover-strait-shadowed-by-royal-navy-10625732)
12. [The Kuznetsov Smokescreen: Russia's Peculiar Naval Taskforce to Syria, Jamestown Foundation (27 October 2016)](https://jamestown.org/kuznetsov-smokescreen-russias-peculiar-naval-taskforce-syria/)
13. [Warships of Russia's naval task force return home after Syrian mission, TASS](https://tass.com/defense/929752/amp)
14. [Russian Fleet Mobilizes for Syria, The Maritime Executive (19 October 2016)](https://maritime-executive.com/article/russian-fleet-mobilizes-for-syria)
15. [P-700 Granit, ProjectOrlan](https://www.projectorlan.com/articles/p700-granit.html)
16. [Kirov-class battlecruiser: Russia's Project 1144 Orlan, Battle Policy](https://www.battlepolicy.com/kirov-class/)
17. [Moscow's Pacific Trident, Sea Power Centre – Australia (citing TASS, 20 April 2023)](https://seapower.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-05/Moscow%27s%20Pacific%20Trident.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Transport and spaceflight › Water transport › Warships and naval vessels › Cruisers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
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