Soviet aircraft carrier Ulyanovsk

Soviet nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ulyanovsk
Class overview
Name	Ulyanovsk class
Builders	Chernomorsky Shipyard 444
Operators	Soviet Navy
Preceded by	Kuznetsov class
Succeeded by	Project 23000
Planned	2
Cancelled	2
History
Soviet Union
Name	Ulyanovsk (Russian: Улья́новск)
Ordered	11 June 1986
Laid down	25 November 1988
Commissioned	1995 (planned)
Stricken	1 November 1991
Fate	Scrapped at 40% completion 5 February 1992
General characteristics
Type	Aircraft carrier
Displacement	65,800 tons standard 75,000 tons full load
Length	321.2 m (1,054 ft) overall
Beam	83.9 m (275 ft) overall 40 m (130 ft) at waterline
Draught	10.6 m (35 ft)
Propulsion	4 × KN-3 nuclear reactors 4 × steam turbines, four shafts, 280,000 shp (210,000 kW)
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h)
Range	Unlimited distance; 20–25 years
Endurance	Limited only by supplies
Complement	3,400 total
Armament	12 × P-700 Granit SSMs, 3S90 Uragan SAMs, 8 × CADS-N-1 CIWS, 8 × AK-630 rotary anti-aircraft cannons
Aircraft carried	68 aircraft total 44 Sukhoi Su-33 and/or Mikoyan MiG-29K 6 × Yak-44 radar picket aircraft 16 Kamov Ka-27 ASW helicopters 2 Kamov Ka-27PS SAR helicopters

Ulyanovsk (Russian: Улья́новск, IPA: [ʊˈlʲjanəfsk]), Soviet designation Project 1143.7, was a fixed-wing aircraft carrier laid down on 25 November 1988 as the first of a class of Soviet nuclear-powered supercarriers. It was intended for the first time to offer true blue water naval aviation capability for the Soviet Navy. The ship would have been equipped with steam catapults that could launch fully loaded aircraft, representing a major advance over the Kuznetsov class, which could only launch less-loaded aircraft from their ski-jumps. However, construction of Ulyanovsk was stopped at about 40% after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

History

Background

The Soviet Union's Nevsky Engineering Design Bureau developed the third-generation heavy aircraft cruiser Kuznetsov with Su-33 in the 1980s (Plan 1143.5/Order 105) and the Varyag aircraft carrier (Plan 1143.6/Order 106), at the same time, in December 1984, the construction of the fourth-generation large-scale nuclear-powered heavy aircraft cruiser began. The plan number was "Plan 1143.7", and the preliminary design was completed in 1986. On November 25, 1988, construction for "Order 107" ― named Ulyanovsk ― officially began at the Black Sea Shipyard.

To this end, the Soviet government allocated funds to carry out the second large-scale technical transformation of the Black Sea Shipyard, including:

• the construction of an assembly and welding workshop, allowing the hull to be increased in sections to 200 tons;
• a 350-ton self-propelled flatbed truck;
• a transport lane from the new workshop to the slipway;
• the length of No. 0 slipway was lengthened by 30 meters;
• a horizontal slipway-side platform with a total weight of 1,700 tons;
• installing a slipway and slipway-side platform;
• two new gantry cranes each with a lifting capacity of 900 tons, and other new cranes, bringing the number of cranes used on the entire slipway to ten;
• a river channel to ensure that the Ulyanovsk would be able to go to sea in the future.

Ending

Due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the amount of funding to complete the carrier was insufficient, and the aircraft carrier construction plan was suspended. As of November 1991, Ulyanovsk was only 40% complete.

The No. 2 ship "Plan 1143.8" originally planned to be built was also cancelled at the same time.

Design

United States Department of Defense artwork of a Soviet nuclear-powered aircraft carrier similar to Ulyanovsk, under construction

Ulyanovsk was based upon the 1975 Project 1153 Orel, which did not get beyond blueprints. The initial commissioned name was to be Kremlin, but was later given the name Ulyanovsk after the Soviet city of Ulyanovsk, which was originally named Simbirsk but later renamed after Vladimir Lenin's original name because he was born there.

It would have been 85,000 tonnes in displacement (larger than the older Forrestal-class carriers but smaller than contemporary Nimitz class of the U.S. Navy). Ulyanovsk would have been able to launch the full range of fixed-wing carrier aircraft, as it was equipped with two catapults as well as a ski jump. The configuration would have been very similar to U.S. Navy carriers though with the typical Soviet practice of adding anti-ship missile (ASM) and surface-to-air missile (SAM) launchers. Its hull was laid down in 1988, but construction was cancelled at 40% complete in January 1991 and a planned second unit was never laid down.

In accordance with Decree No. 69-R of February 4, 1992, signed by the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Kostyantyn Masyk, on February 5, 1992, scrapping of the ship's hull structures began. By October 29, 1992, the slipway was free, and the ship (order 107) had ceased to exist.

Air group

Yak-44 and Su-33 on the deck ATAKR Ulyanovsk

The Ulyanovsk air group was to include 68 aircraft with the following planned composition:

• 44 fighter aircraft, combination of Sukhoi Su-33 (Su-27K) and Mikoyan MiG-29K fighters
• 6 Yakovlev Yak-44 RLD airborne early warning aircraft
• 16 Kamov Ka-27 anti-submarine warfare helicopters
• 2 Ka-27PS air-sea rescue helicopters

The ship was equipped with two "Mayak" steam catapults made by the Proletarian Factory in Leningrad, a ski-jump, and four arresting gear. For storing aircraft, it had a 175×32×7.9-m hangar deck with aircraft elevated to the flight deck by 3 elevators with carrying capacities of 50 tons (two on the starboard side and one on the port). The stern housed the "Luna" optical landing guidance system.

See also

• List of ships of the Soviet Navy
• List of ships of Russia by project number
• Project 23000 aircraft carrier

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Saunders, Stephen, ed. (2006). Jane's Fighting Ships 2006-7. Coulsdon, Surrey: Janes Information Group. ISBN 978-0-7106-2753-7.

External links

• Hazegray.org entry.
• Project 1143.7 Orel Ul'yanovsk class, GlobalSecurity.org.
• A Brief Look at Russian Aircraft Carrier Development, Robin J. Lee.