''Kiev'' () is an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

(heavy aircraft cruiser in Russian classification) that served the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

and the

Russian Navy The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...

from 1975 to 1993. She was built between 1970 and 1975 at Chernomorski factory in

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...

and was the first vessel to be built. She is currently part of a theme park in China.

Service life

''Kiev'' was laid down on 21 July 1970 and launched on 26 December 1972. She was completed and commissioned on 28 December 1975, but officially entered service only in February 1977, after completing all trials. On 16 July 1976 she sailed from

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, and on 20 July began testing her Yakovlev Yak-36M aircraft (four Yak-36M and one Yak-36MU on board) under sea conditions in the Mediterranean off Crete. On 10 August 1976 she arrived in

Severomorsk Severomorsk (), known as Vayenga () until 18 April 1951, is a closed city, closed types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. Severomorsk is the main administrative base of the Russian Northern Fleet. The town is sit ...

Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia, located in the northwestern part of the country, with a total land area of . Its only internal border is the Republic of Karelia to the south, and it is bor ...

, and was attached to the Northern Fleet's 170th Anti-Submarine Warfare Brigade, and conducted extensive tests up to December. Between 12 and 19 April 1977 she took part in the ''Sever-77'' exercise, and on 26 June 1977 was reclassified from ''Protivolodochnyye Kreysery'' (PKR) "ASW cruiser" to ''Tyazhelyye Avianesushchiye Kreysery'' (TAVKR) "Heavy aircraft carrying cruiser". Between 20 December 1977 and 21 April 1978 she participated in operations in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean. On 3 November 1978 she hit a sand bar, but suffered no damage. She took part in a local exercise on 4 August 1978, and on 11 October in final tests of the main missiles in the

White Sea The White Sea (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; ) is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the nort ...

. From 1977 to 1987, ''Kiev'' undertook 10 practice voyages to the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. In March 1979 she undertook manoeuvres with her sister ship ''Minsk'' on the Mediterranean. In October 1981 she was a flagship in the massive fleet exercise Zapad-81 on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

. From December 1982 to November 1984 she underwent an overhaul and modernization in

. From 1985, the practice of operating

Yakovlev Yak-38 The Yakovlev Yak-38 (; NATO reporting name: "Forger") was Soviet Naval Aviation's only operational VTOL strike fighter aircraft in addition to being its first operational carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft. It was developed specifically for, and ...

s in

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that can takeoff/land on short runways. Many STOL-designed aircraft can operate on airstrips with harsh conditions (such as high altitude or ice). STOL aircraft, including tho ...

mode instead of

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can takeoff and landing, take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust- ...

was introduced, allowing an increase in aircraft payload and range, and a replacement of Kamov Ka-25 helicopters with Kamov Ka-27 started. In 1985 ''Kiev'' went back to the Northern Fleet. From 1987 she mainly stayed in Severomorsk. In December 1989 she was moved to reserve. After the disintegration of the USSR, the ship was taken by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Due to a low military budget and worsening ship's condition, she was retired on 30 June 1993.

Post-service life

In 1996 ''Kiev'' was sold to Binhai Aircraft Park, a theme park in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The concept was developed by world tourism and attraction consultant Leisure Quest International. In August 2011, ex-''Kiev'' was developed into a luxury hotel after renovations costing £9.6 million.

Notes and references

External links

History of the ''Kiev''

Article on the Kiev Class

Binhai Aircraft Park

Satellite Photo of Kiev in a military theme park in Tianjin from Google MapsChina turns aircraft carrier into a luxury hotel (BBC Website News)Photos of the Binhai Aircraft Hotel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiev Kiev-class aircraft carriers Ships built at the Black Sea Shipyard 1972 ships Cold War aircraft carriers of the Soviet Union Ships of the Russian Northern Fleet Tourist attractions in Tianjin Museum ships in China Ships built in the Soviet Union

Service life

Post-service life

See also

Notes and references

External links