Project 1153 Orel

Class overview
Name	Orel Class
Builders	Chernomorsky Shipyard 444
Operators	Soviet Navy
Planned	2
Cancelled	2
History
Soviet Union
Name	Orel (Russian: Орёл)
Ordered	1976
Commissioned	1985 (Planned)
Fate	Work for the ship ceased in 1978 while still on the draft design
General characteristics
Type	Aircraft carrier
Displacement	72.000 Tons
Propulsion	Nuclear Reactor
Speed	29 knots (54 km/h)
Range	Unlimited
Armament	20 × P-700 Granit SSMs 2 × 3K95 Kinzhal SAMs 4 x 3S90 Uragan SAMs 12 × AK-630 CIWSes 4 x RBU-6000 and/or UDAV-1 ASW rockets
Aircraft carried	50 aircraft total 34 MiG-23K strike fighters 6 × P-42 Garpun ASW aircraft 4 x P-42RLDN AWACS aircraft 6 × Kamov Ka-27 scout helicopters

Project 1153 Orel (Russian: Орёл pr: "Or'yol", Eagle) was a late 1970s plan to give the Soviet Navy a true blue water aviation capability. The aircraft carrier would have about 72,000 tons displacement, with a nuclear power plant and a steam catapults for aircraft launch, similar to the earlier Kitty Hawk-class supercarriers of the U.S. Navy. Unlike them and the preceding Soviet aircraft cruisers, it was also designed with a large offensive capability; the ship mounts including 20 vertical launch tubes for anti-ship cruise missiles. The Soviets classified it as a "large cruiser with aircraft armament".

Etymology

The project was codenamed Eagle (Орёл), just like the two earlier helicopter and aircraft cruiser projects, and several projects of other classes of ships, were named after birds of prey. However the carriers themselves were named after Soviet cities, while only frigates were named after birds (see Russian ship naming conventions); the actual projected name of the ships is not known.

History

The origins of the Orel program dates back to the late 1960s, when the Soviet Defense Minister Andrei Grechko sponsored a program of constructing large aircraft-carrying cruisers in response to American aircraft carriers.

The purpose of this project was to strengthen the Soviet naval aviation capabilities to allow them to operate on the high seas. In fact, the only Soviet carriers at the time, the Moskva-class, were essentially helicopter carriers, uncapable of carrying fixed-wing aircraft. Thus leaving the Soviet fleet practically without air cover during operations away from the coast and severely limiting its operational capabilities.

The Project 1160 (Codenamed Orel) was projected as the first Soviet aircraft carrier powered by nuclear reactor. It was developed in the early 1970s at the Nevskoye Design Bureau. The project envisaged the construction of three supercarriers with a displacement of 80.000 tons and capable of carrying about 60 carrier-based aircraft along with 16 P-700 Granit anti-ship missile VLS beneath the flight deck. However in 1973, the work of the Project 1160 was cancelled for being too expensive.

Project 1153, (based on its predecessor Project 1160) a more V/STOL-aircraft-oriented, was developed instead. Compared to Project 1160, it is planned to have a displacement of 8.000 tons less while retaining its nuclear powered propulsion system and the VLS for anti-ship missiles. The ship was added 4 extra VLS, therefore sacrificing its aircraft capacity from 60 to 50. It was also planned that two ships will be constructed instead of three. But then, following the death of Marshal Grechko in 1976, He was succeeded by Marshal Dmitry Ustinov as the new Minister of Defense. Ustinov found the project being too expensive and so the plans were ordered to be redrawn and reduced to 60.000 tons to minimize the budget spending. Despite the attempts of redrawing and redesigning the plan to satisfy the demands of the Soviet Army, the plan was still too expensive and the entire project was cancelled in 1978. While the Orel never saw fruition, in the 1980s it influenced the also abortive Ulyanovsk program.

See also

• Soviet aircraft carrier Ulyanovsk
• Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov
• List of ships of the Soviet Navy
• List of ships of Russia by project number

Further reading

• Cigar, Norman (1992). "Soviet Aircraft Carriers: Unfortunate Timing for a Long-held Dream". Naval War College Review. 45 (2): 20–34. ISSN 0028-1484.
• Petersen, Charles C. (1984). "Aircraft Carrier Development in Soviet Naval Theory". Naval War College Review. 37 (1): 4–13. ISSN 0028-1484.
• Kuzin, V. (February 1992). "Aircraft-Carrying Cruisers: We Knew What We Were Doing". Morskoy Sbornik (2): 33–41. – translated copy available via the US government, pp. 22–29.
  • See also: Wright, Christopher C.; Harris, Allan C. (1992). "Now Hear This". Warship International. 29 (1): 66–71. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • Wright, Christopher C.; Harris, Allan C. (1992). "Now Hear This". Warship International. 29 (2): 210–213. ISSN 0043-0374.

External links

• "A Brief Look at Russian Aircraft Carrier Development," Robin J. Lee.