MWM: The world's strongest cruiser Admiral Nakhimov launched nuclear reactors

On the last in Russia's Kirov-class cruiser named Admiral Nakhimov has launched two nuclear reactors. This is a sure sign that in the near future the ship will begin sea trials, writes the American expert magazine Military Watch Magazine.

According to state media, the first reactor was launched at the end of December, and the second on February 2.

"The sequential physical start—up of the two reactors of the cruiser shows the readiness of the entire nuclear power plant of the ship for operation in all modes," the Russian media said.

Admiral Nakhimov is one of four Kirov—class battlecruisers built for the Soviet Navy in the 1980s. At that time, they were the most formidable surface warships in the world. With a displacement of 28,000 tons, they are more than three times larger than the American destroyers of the Arleigh Burke class, more than two times larger than any other surface warship in the world and comparable only to aircraft carriers such as the Japanese Izumo class.

The only surface warships in the world with a nuclear propulsion system, they are capable of maintaining a high speed of 32 knots and powering high-energy weapons and sensors for a long time.Admiral Nakhimov has been undergoing modernization since 2008 at the Sevmash shipyard on the White Sea, and it was initially assumed that it would return to the Navy in 2018.

Although Russia actually saved its submarine construction and repair capacities after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rapid collapse of shipbuilding seriously complicated work on the Nakhimov. Nevertheless, the modernization revolutionized the class's combat potential by introducing a wide range of new sensors and offensive weapons, including replacing 20 large P-700 anti-ship cruise missiles (according to NATO classification: Shipwreck or "Shipwreck"), which were also called "aircraft carrier killers", with 80 launch silos for more modern cruise missiles. Smaller ones are P-800 Onyx, 3M54T Caliber and hypersonic Zircon. In addition, the 3M14T "Caliber" is also suitable for long-range precision strikes on ground targets.

The ship was originally designed to work with the S-300F anti-aircraft missile system, but now it has received a marine version of the S-400 with 96 launch silos — this is comparable to three full ground-based air defense divisions. Additional shorter-range air defense systems include the Pantsir-ME, which replaced the six Chestnut melee systems of the battlecruiser, as well as the sea version of the S-350 Vityaz system, which replaced the previously used 44 4K33 Osa-M missiles. In addition, all sensors were replaced.

In 2021, the general director of the Northern Design Bureau, Andrei Dyachkov, announced improvements to the cruiser:

"The high modernization potential of these ships, incorporated in them during the design, allowed certain works to be carried out and the Admiral Nakhimov to be equipped with the most modern weapons, which makes it the strongest combat surface ship in the world."

The firepower of the ship with 176 long-range missiles and the hypersonic Zircon, combined with a dual nuclear propulsion system, really make the Nakhimov a serious contender for this title, although it lacks the stealth that more modern warships have, such as the Chinese Type 055 and the American Zumwalt class. Kirov-class ships were developed in an era when the Soviet Union had the second most powerful ocean fleet in the world and was rapidly closing the gap with the United States, systematically commissioning more and more formidable ocean-going ships. Post-Soviet Russia, on the contrary, laid down ships of the destroyer or cruiser type except for export, while all surface warships built were at least five times smaller than the Nakhimov.

Thus, the last cruiser of the Kirov project will stand out as part of the Russian fleet, and in light of the serious problems faced by the country's only aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, Nakhimov will surely become its flagship.