Missile cruiser "Marshal Ustinov" after modernization will replace port of registry

The missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov, whose modernization at the Zvezdochka shipyard has been going on for about four years, is a notable unit of the Northern Fleet. Specifically, there are only three such units in the Russian Navy, one in each in the Northern, Black Sea and Pacific fleets, two of them, Moscow and Varyag, are the flagships of the Black Sea and Pacific Fleets, respectively.

Transfer to a new duty station

More recently, in the media, with references to sources in the military industry and the Ministry of Defense, information has begun to appear about the intention of the Navy command to reassign the Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser after the repair to the Pacific Fleet. This is an important decision, as it substantially changes the distribution of Russian naval forces towards the Far Eastern theater of military operations.

State of the Pacific Fleet

If to understand more in detail, such decision has ripened for a long time. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Pacific Fleet began to rapidly lose ships. The lack of financing for maintenance, ongoing repairs and modernization of ships led to the withdrawal of the largest and most significant ships - aircraft carrying cruisers Minsk and Novorossiysk. It should also be noted that the Pacific Fleet lost (albeit not completely) the cruiser Admiral Lazarev, as well as most of the destroyers and amphibious assault ships. In addition to putting the ships out of order, the problem was also the maintenance of ships in combat readiness. The above-mentioned "Varyag", as well as the large anti-submarine ships of Project 1155 - are practically the only large cars left in the ranks. In such a state of the fleet there was no question of any full presence in the ocean.

The replenishment of the Pacific fleet by the Marshal Ustinov cruiser, together with the capital repairs of the 956 destroyers in reserve , makes it possible to deploy simultaneously two sufficiently powerful anti-submarine groupings in the far sea zone. With the re-commissioning of the Admiral Lazarev nuclear missile cruiser in 2018 and the replenishment of the fleet with the corvette being built, the Pacific Fleet, after so many years of interruption, will be able to carry out any practical tasks in the region.

Infrastructure

The emerging difficulties in providing the infrastructure for the basing of such a large ship are minimized due to the failure of the transaction for the acquisition of the Mistrals. To accommodate the helicopter carriers, a wharf was constructed, the dimensions of which allow the use of missile cruisers. Considering that, most likely, the transfer of helicopter carriers will not take place, the logical decision will be to use the created infrastructure for the deployment of the Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser.

Project Description 1164

Missile units of the project 1164, to which the cruiser "Marshal Ustinov" belongs, play an important role in the Russian naval forces both in the far and near sea zones. They are capable of hitting any surface ships of the enemy, including aircraft carriers, using the main armament - the P-1000 "Vulkan" missile systems. Also in the range of their tasks is to provide anti-aircraft defense in the naval formations of the fleet. The air defense means of these ships are represented by the most heavily-owned Russian air defense complex "Fort", as well as by the "Osa-MA" complexes as auxiliary air defense complexes of the near zone.

The artillery armament of the ship is represented by one installation of AK-130 in the bow of the ship, as well as six automatic antiaircraft artillery complexes AK-630. As anti-submarine weapons there is a reactive-bomb installation RBU-6000. In general, the missile cruisers of this project are an inexpensive alternative to the nuclear missile cruisers of Project 1144. The greatest value to these ships is attached to the presence of a powerful offensive anti-ship complex, as well as the possibility of creating (in combination with other, less equipped air defense ships) air defense system due to the presence of the Fort "With a fairly large ammunition of missiles.

Modernization

So, what will be the missile cruiser of the project 1164 Marshal Ustinov after repairs and modernization? Of course, there is no exact information on the specific elements to be replaced and modernized. However, it is reliably known that during the overhaul, more than fifty percent of shipboard wiring, the element base of navigation systems, antenna groups, and radar stations are subject to replacement. Armament and power plant will not be modernized, however, significant repairs are carried out. It is worth noting that the repair of the missile cruiser "Marshal Ustinov" is a priority task of the shipyard "Zvezdochka".

In general, the cruiser "Marshal Ustinov" will not undergo significant changes, and the range of tasks solved by them will not change radically. However, it should be noted that the four-year repair will certainly have a positive impact on the overall combat readiness of the ship, reducing the number of faults, as well as improving the overall reliability of ship systems and units.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, it should be noted that the decision to redeploy the missile cruiser of Project 1164 "Marshal Ustinov" to the Pacific Fleet also symbolizes the special attention paid to the development of the armed forces in such a tense region as the Far East. The presence of unresolved territorial disputes, the massive naval presence of the United States, the development of the PLA Navy and many other factors compel the military leadership of the Russian Federation to also increase the grouping of troops and forces in this direction.