The ''Moskva'' class, Soviet designation Project 1123 ''Kondor'' (

condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. They are: * The Andean condor (''Vu ...

) and ''S-703'' Project 1123M Kiev, was the first class of operational aircraft carriers (

helicopter cruiser The aircraft cruiser (also known as aviation cruiser or cruiser-carrier) is a warship that combines the features of the aircraft carrier and a surface warship such as a cruiser or battleship. Early types The first aircraft cruiser was origina ...

s in the Soviet classification) built by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

for the Soviet Navy.Jordan,John, 'Soviet Warships 1945 to Present', Revised & Expanded Edition, , Published by Arms & Armour Press (London, UK), 1992 These ships were laid down at Nikolayev South (Shipyard No.444). The lead vessel was launched in 1965 and named (russian: Москва, ,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

); she entered service two years later. ''Moskva'' was followed by (russian: Ленинград, ,

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, which was commissioned in late 1968; there were no further vessels built, reportedly due to the poor handling of the ships in rough seas. Both were conventionally powered. The ''Moskva''s were not true "aircraft carriers" in that they did not carry any fixed-wing aircraft; the air wing was composed entirely of

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s. They were designed primarily as

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

(ASW) vessels, and her weapons and sensor suite was optimized against the nuclear submarine threat. Their strategic role was to defend the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

ballistic missile submarine bastions against incursions by Western

attack submarine An attack submarine or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. In the Soviet and Russian navies they were and are called ...

s, forming the flagships of an ASW task force.

Design

The operational requirement was issued by Admiral

Sergey Gorshkov Sergey Georgyevich Gorshkov (russian: Серге́й Гео́ргиевич Горшко́в; 26 February 1910 – 13 May 1988) was an admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union. Twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, he oversaw the exp ...

in 1959. The aim of the ships was to counter

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Polaris submarines and act as a flagship for anti-submarine warfare. Initially it was hoped to operate ten helicopters from an 8000-ton ship. The design evolved into a larger vessel capable of operating up to 14 helicopters with self defence armament.

Armament

Shipboard ASW armament included a twin SUW-N-1 launcher capable of delivering a FRAS-1 projectile carrying a torpedo (or a 5 kiloton nuclear warhead); a pair of RBU-6000 ASW mortars; and a set of

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s. For self-defence, the ''Moskva''s had two twin SA-N-3 surface-to-air missile (SAM) launchers with reloads for a total of 48 surface-to-air missiles, along with two twin /80 guns.

Propulsion

Gas turbines were considered but were as yet untried in such a large vessel. Instead a high pressure steam plant similar to that used by the s was used. The machinery of ''Moskva'' had severe problems and had to be rebuilt in 1973 following a fire. Operational performance was disappointing with a practical maximum speed of and maximum sustainable speed. Sea keeping was also disappointing.

Ships

Both vessels were part of the Black Sea Fleet. ''Leningrad'' was retired in 1991 and ''Moskva'' in 1996. ''Leningrad'' was scrapped in 1995 and ''Moskva'' in 1997. A third ship to be named ''Kiev'' was cancelled in 1969, which was to have been an

anti-surface warfare Anti-surface warfare (ASuW or ASUW) is the branch of naval warfare concerned with the suppression of surface combatants. More generally, it is any weapons, sensors, or operations intended to attack or limit the effectiveness of an adversary's s ...

vessel. The ''Moskva'' class was succeeded by the larger .

References

Citations

Sources

* Also published as

External links

Moskva class - Complete Ship List

*
''Moskva'' class
{{Soviet and Russian ships after 1945 Helicopter carrier classes Moskva class helicopter carrier