Russia To Scrap Its Only Aircraft Carrier After Long Struggle With Repairs

Russia may soon scrap its only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, after years of failed repairs and repeated accidents. The warship, which has been out of service since 2017, has been undergoing a troubled overhaul since 2018.

Per a report by the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia, all work on the carrier has been stopped, and the Russian Navy is now considering whether to dismantle the vessel for good.

Officials from the Russian Navy High Command and the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), the state-owned company handling the repairs, are currently discussing whether the Kuznetsov should be returned to service or scrapped. Sources told Izvestia that a final decision may be announced soon.

Former Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Sergei Avakyants supported the idea of ending the repairs, saying the carrier is outdated and not suitable for modern warfare. He said the ship is too expensive to maintain and can be destroyed quickly by today’s advanced weapons. He added that the future of naval warfare lies with unmanned systems and robotic platforms, not traditional aircraft carriers.

Retired Rear Admiral Mikhail Chekmasov pointed out that Russia’s current naval strategy still supports aircraft carrier groups in both the Northern and Pacific Fleets. However, he said financial limitations, especially due to the war in Ukraine are a major reason for possibly ending the project. He said the country’s focus is now on winning the war, and shipbuilding plans may become clearer afterward.

Other military experts in Russia still believe that aircraft carriers have value. Naval expert Vasily Dandykin said that even with advances in drones, there is still a need for air support during long-range naval missions. Researcher Ilya Kramnik from the Russian Academy of Sciences agreed that the Russian Navy still needs a floating airfield. He said that while the Kuznetsov is now outdated, the experience gained from operating it could help Russia build a new carrier of similar size in the future.

The Admiral Kuznetsov, launched in 1985 and commissioned in 1991, was meant to provide air support for naval operations, protect other ships, and help in amphibious assaults. It was last deployed in 2016–17 in the Mediterranean Sea, where it took part in Russia’s military campaign in Syria. During that mission, two of its fighter jets were lost within weeks, one crashed after running out of fuel while waiting to land, and the other plunged into the sea after a cable snapped on the flight deck.

The ship’s modernisation was supposed to be completed in 2021, then pushed to 2022, and later delayed again to 2025. The overhaul was expected to cost 20 billion rubles (about $257 million) and included upgrades to the powerplant and electronics systems to extend the ship’s life by at least a decade. But the process has been marked by severe problems.

In 2018, the floating dry dock PD-50, the only one in Russia capable of holding the Kuznetsov, sank while the ship was being repaired. A 70-tonne crane collapsed onto the deck, causing major structural damage. Then in December 2019, a fire broke out during welding work, killing two people and injuring 14. The fire caused damage estimated to be over $1 billion. Another fire in the engine room in 2022 further delayed the repairs.

In February 2023, the ship was moved out of dry dock at the Sevmorput shipyard in Murmansk, but reports came soon after that the crew had been disbanded. Bringing back the crew would be a major challenge, especially since Russia is already dealing with personnel shortages due to the war in Ukraine.

Even before the overhaul began, the ship had a long list of problems. In 2009, a fire off the coast of Turkey killed several crew members. The ship’s engines, which run on Mazut, a thick and dirty fuel, produced heavy black smoke visible from far away and required constant maintenance. The ship often needed tugboats to accompany it on missions and could only stay at sea for around 45 days at a time.

According to reports, Russia had effectively given up on aircraft carrier operations in June 2024. The carrier’s MiG-29KR fighter jets had been reassigned to land-based missions, including to Crimea. One of these jets was destroyed in a Ukrainian rocket attack in 2024.

The Kuznetsov was originally called Leonid Brezhnev, then renamed Tbilisi, and later Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov. Naval superstition warns that changing a ship’s name without proper decommissioning brings bad luck, which some believe explains the ship’s long list of misfortunes. These include fires, accidents, poor maintenance, and failed missions, all of which have led many to call it a “cursed” ship.

The ship is not officially listed as an aircraft carrier but as a “heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser.” This designation allowed it to pass through the Turkish-controlled Bosphorus Strait, as aircraft carriers are restricted under the Montreux Convention.

Now, if the Kuznetsov is scrapped, Russia will officially become a nation without an operational aircraft carrier for the first time since the Soviet era.

References: TWZ, themoscowtimes

Source: Maritime Shipping News