Project 11780 Kherson was an unrealized 1980s

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

LHD program derived from the design comparable to the US . The ship would have been about 25,000 tons displacement, with steam turbine power plants and carried about 12 helicopters and four Ondatra-class landing craft or two Tsaplya-class LCACs.

Development

The development of the Project 11780 began when Admiral of the Fleet of the USSR

Sergey Gorshkov Sergey Georgyevich Gorshkov (; 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 expansion of the Soviet Navy into a global force during the Cold ...

ordered the development of a fully-fledged universal landing ship. The design and purpose of the ship evolved throughout the development. Initially, the ship was intended solely for landing operations. Then the General Staff proposed turning the Project 11780 ships into universal aircraft-carrying ships by equipping them with a bow ski-jump ramp, allowing the deployment of helicopters to bolster the air support for the landing troops. It was planned to build two ships: "Kherson" and "Kremenchuk". The pair would have a standard displacement of 25,000 tons, making it only could be built at the Chernomorsky Shipyard. At that time, the slipways of the Black Sea Shipyard were scheduled for the construction of Project 1143.5 aircraft carriers, which then triggered a "struggle for the slipway". The General Staff, placing great importance on the construction of the LHDs, proposed building them instead of the aircraft carriers.

Ending

This proposal was opposed by the Navy Commander-in-Chief. Understanding that the construction of the LHDs, due to the lack of required shipbuilding capacity, would likely lead to the abandonment of Project 1143.5 aircraft carriers. And so a cunning trick was employed. By the Commander-in-Chief’s order, an

AK-130 The AK-130 is a Russian designed automatic dual barrel naval cannon with a caliber of , capable of firing 10-40 rounds per minute (per gun barrel). History The design of the cannon began in June 1976 in KB Arsenal. A first single-barrel canno ...

artillery mount was placed on the bow, directly in front of the flight deck. The Naval Research Institute was tasked with providing a "scientific" justification for the presence of such armament and its placement. As a result, the General Staff lost interest in the project, and the construction was postponed. At the request of the Minister of Defense, Marshal

Dmitry Ustinov Dmitriy Fyodorovich Ustinov (; 30 October 1908 – 20 December 1984) was a Soviet politician and a Marshal of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He served as a Central Committee secretary in charge of the Soviet military–industrial comple ...

, the tasks of Project 11780 were expanded to include peacetime tracking of enemy submarines in the seas. Ultimately, all these changes led to the Project 11780 ships never being laid down.

References

External links

*http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/ship-soviet-2.htm *https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2019/12/russia-to-begin-construction-of-lhd-in-2020-part-1/ Helicopter carrier classes Amphibious warfare vessel classes Cold War aircraft carriers of the Soviet Union Amphibious warfare vessels of the Soviet Union Proposed aircraft carriers Abandoned military projects of the Soviet Union {{USSR-mil-ship-stub

Development

Ending

See also

References

External links