''Admiral Lazarev'' () was the second . Until 1992 she was named ''Frunze'' () after a Project 68 cruiser (named after

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

leader

Mikhail Frunze Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze (; ; 2 February 1885 – 31 October 1925) was a Soviet revolutionary, politician, army officer and military theory, military theorist. Born to a Bessarabian father and a Russian mother in Russian Turkestan, Frunze at ...

); at that time she was renamed after Russian

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev Admiral Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev (; ) was a Russian Naval fleet, fleet commander and explorer. Education and early career Lazarev was born in Vladimir, Russia, Vladimir city, a lineal descendant, scion of the old Russian nobility from the V ...

. Scrapping of the ship began in April 2021.

Construction and design

She was laid down on 27 July 1978 at

Baltiysky Naval Shipyard The OJSC Baltic Shipyard (''Baltiysky Zavod'', formerly Shipyard 189 named after Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze) () is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia and is part of United Shipbuilding Corporation today. It is located in Saint Petersburg in th ...

, Leningrad, launched on 26 May 1981, and commissioned on 31 October 1984.

Differences from lead ship

''Admiral Lazarev'' was constructed differently from the lead ship of the class. On the forward part of the ship, the twin SS-N-14 ASW missile launcher was replaced with 8 octuple SA-N-9 surface-to-air missile vertical launchers (planned, but not installed). On the aft part, a single twin AK-130 130 mm gun, similar to the guns used on ''Slava'' and ''Sovremennyy'', was used instead of two 100 mm guns. Near the flight deck, the 30 mm CIWS cannons were moved to the aft superstructure and replaced with place for 8 octuple SA-N-9 vertical launchers (not installed). There were also some differences in the sensors, ESM/ECM suite and communication systems.

Career

In August to November 1985 she sailed from the North via the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

and the

Malacca Strait The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

to join the Soviet Navy's Pacific Fleet. She visited

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

along the way. Holm writes that the ship only conducted local-waters training from 1987 to 1992, and was inactive from 1994 onwards. In 1999 the cruiser was taken out of service and prepared for scrapping as no money was available for its overhaul. In 2004–2005 the cruiser's nuclear fuel was unloaded. As of 2009 it was reported that the ship was moored near

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

, in conservation status. The Russian Navy planned to modernize the ship and return it to active service, provided that the necessary funds were found. In 2012 it appeared unlikely modernization would occur, as the ship was "considered to be beyond repair... will be scrapped, a source in the military complex says". ''Admiral Lazarev'' has appeared in aerial imagery from 2006 to 2014 moored in the Abrek Bay mothball fleet, near Fokino, Primorsky Krai. Its berth is around from the Russian nuclear-powered vessel decommissioning facility at the Chazhma Bay naval yard. In northern summer 2014, ''Admiral Lazarev'' was painted at "30 судоремонтный завод" (roughly 30th Ship Repair Factory) in the Chazhma Bay drydock to extend preservation time in the reserve fleet. The latest aerial imagery shows the ship located at 42°55'46.0"N 132°25'08.0"E in the Bukhta Abrek. In April 2019, Russia decided to scrap and recycle the ''Admiral Lazarev'' in 2021. A contract for ship recycling was signed in February 2021. Updated scrapping photos were posted in October 2021 and October 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Admiral Lazarev Kirov-class battlecruisers Cold War cruisers of the Soviet Union 1981 ships Nuclear-powered ships of the Soviet Navy Ships built at the Baltic Shipyard