Shipbucket

Fantastic drawings in this thread. Im not really into modern stuff, but I do like the aesthetic of Soviet ships.

Kiev, 1973

To counter the Polaris-armed SSBN fleets of NATO, the Soviet Union required more organic ASW aircraft support for the fleet, especially to assist in the defence of the bastions then being created for the Soviets 'boomer' fleet in the arctic. Following on from the two Project 1123 Moskva helicopter-carrying cruisers, the third Pr.1123 ship, Kiev, was redesigned as the Pr.1134, the Soviet's first true aircraft carrier with a full-sized flight deck with an angled deck on the portside to allow the use of helicopters and V/STOL fighters. The Kiev was an interim design before the Project 1143 came into service at the end of the 1970s.

Kiev: completed 24/04/1973, commissioned into the Northern Fleet, decommissioned 14/07/1993

Displacement: 36,000 tons
Dimensions: 287m (long, overall), 232.7m (long, waterline), 54.5m (beam, including flight deck), 8.5m (draught, mean)
Armament: 12x2 76mm AK-257, 2x2 M-11 Shtorm SAM launchers, 1x2 MS-18 launcher for RPK-1 Vikrh, 2x RBU-1000 ASW rocket launchers
Airgroup: 18x Kamov Ka-20 'Hound' attack helicopters and Kamov Ka-25 'Hormone' ASW helicopters, 9x Yakovlev Yak-36M 'Freehand' V/STOL fighters
Machinery: 4x 45,000shp TV-12 steam turbines
Speed: 29.5kts

Drawing Notes: Special thanks goes to Alex (Alvama) for sending the source drawing for this. This is another Western artist's impression of Kiev, this time by Italian naval artist A. Nani for Almanaco Navale 1971-72 (think Italian version of Flottes de Combat/ Combat Fleets of the World). It draws heavily upon the Moskva in style but adds a hull and aft section very reminiscent of Western light carriers/LPAs. I find it very interesting because it slightly pre-dates the US Department of Defence artist's impression of what it called the 'Kuril Class', which came out in 1973. Indeed many features are shared but many are also individual to each version (to see them side-by-side to compare please see page 1 of this thread).

Another interesting feature is that despite Moskva having the AK-725 and it being known in the West by this time, A. Nani felt compelled to draw a mount reminiscent of the US Mk37 5in gunhouse, which I have retained here for its interest. The heavy 57mm gun armament was carried over into the US DoD speculations.

Apart from the RPK-1, there is no other fixed ASW system, so I have added a couple of RBU-1000.
The CCA radar aft is also my invention based on A. Nani's outline of a radar that similarly looks invented. The rest of the electronics fit is pure Moskva/Kresta era.

The source drawing was of the starboard side only - the port side profile is entirely my invention.

The airwing is comprised of the Ka-25 and I've added the Ka-20 with its funky-looking ASM and its nose-mounted MGs. The speculative Yak-36M is re-used from my earlier Kuril drawing.

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Another fine addition to this group of well thought-out Soviet ships - although my personal favorite continues to be the Kirov - guess I'm a "big-gun" fan even with modern vessels!

Cheers!
Stealthjester

Stunning!
Although the freeboard looks very high, relative to length -and in comparison to Moskva or Kiev (not Your fault, I know )

Krasnaia Zvedza, 1977

Krasnaia Zvezda: completed 14/08/1970, commissioned into the Northern Fleet, decommissioned 22/05/1994
Krasnoye Znamya: completed 23/11/1972, commissioned into the Pacific Fleet, decommissioned 19/03/1993
Krasnaya Ploschad: completed 29/09/1974, commissioned into the Northern Fleet, decommissioned 30/05/1994

The Project 1159 Krasnaia-class were basically stretched Project 1134 Kresta hulls modified with a modified submarine twin nuclear reactor machinery set. The ships were armed with a comprehensive armament against aerial, surface and undersea threats. Although intended as cheap nuclear cruisers, their capabilities were mixed and the ships were cramped. From 1994 they were decommissioned due to powerplant problems.

Displacement: 10,780 tons
Dimensions: 179.8m (long, overall), 169.4 (long, waterline), 19.6m (beam), 5.9m (draught, mean)
Armament: 2x2 76mm AK-726, 8x6 AK-630, 2x2 M-11 Shtorm SAM launchers, 2x2 Osa-M SAM launchers, 2x3 launchers for Malakhit P-120 anti-ship missiles, 2x4 KT-106 launcher for Metel A/S missiles, 1x RBU-6000 ASW rocket launcher, 2x RBU-1000 ASW rocket launchers, 2x5 533mm torpedo tubes for torpedoes and RPK-2 ASW missiles
Airgroup: 2x Kamov Ka-25 'Hormone' ASW helicopters
Machinery: 2x nuclear reactors driving steam turbines
Speed: 33kts

Drawing Notes: This a long-running fictional design for me. The first version was a cut and paste mashup I did using a Kresta I and Kresta II line drawings from Conway's Fighting Ships 1946-82 back in 2005. The first Shipbucket version I drew was in 2008 and was updated again in 2012. This is began as an update but ended up 95% new and totally redrawn and recoloured and new parts throughout.
For comparison, this is the 2012 version.

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It doesn't look like the rear launcher SSMs would clear the AK-726 mounts(especially the two lower launch tubes).

Yes I was worried about that too, the P-120s are angled outboard slightly, hence the shallow sponson below the launcher. I think it should just about provide enough clearance.

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English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

This would be a cool and capable warship for USSR. A Zvezda II version could also follow, as happened with the Kresta.

P.S Would love to see a top view of the DSK posted in previous pages.

Very interesting design - it's nice to see it get a refresh, especially after so many iterations. As you noted, it looks cramped, even by Soviet standards!

great additions once again, specially the details, like the ak-725 gunhouses, those little gems makes great drawings even more intresting

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