The Kirov-Class Sea Eagle: A Modern-Day Battleship

Discover the incredible Kirov-class battlecruiser, the largest vessel built for ship-to-ship combat, complete with anti-aircraft, anti-ship, and anti-submarine armaments. With a nuclear marine propulsion system and modern radar and anti-aircraft defenses, this super-ship is capable of taking out enemy ships from beyond the horizon.

Simon's Social Media:

Love content? Check out Simon's other YouTube Channels:

[fiftycal]

The KIROV features a unique propulsion system: CONAS (Combined Nuclear And Steam.) This provides the ship with a steady speed from its nuclear engines - and can use its conventional steam turbines to augment this. At least this is one way to look at it. Another was that it’s nuclear reactors weren’t 💯 % reliable - and the conventional steam turbines served as a backup.

The ships were nicknamed…”The Death Stars…” They were festooned with weaponry - it was literally impossible to walk about the decks without running some kind of weapons system. The lead ship - The Kirov was equipped with eight ADMG 6-30 CIWSs. The second ship - originally named The Frunze - was equipped with sixteen. These were later replaced with combined dual rotary 30 MM Cannon and short range missile system - which were much more effective.

The plethora of systems on the ships however - we’re a nightmare of EMI and mutual RF Interference. It wasn’t possible to simultaneously use certain systems because they were incompatible with each other in terms of RF Emissions.

Additionally - as both The Russian and NATO Navies learned with regards to The Moskva- no matter how well armed a ship is - without proper upkeep and maintenance of its systems and damage control gear - it is extremely vulnerable. This is a lesson we would all do well to remember.

[Jayjay-qeum]

The appearance of the Kirov class played a key role in the recommissioning of the Iowa-clase battleships by the United States Navy in the 1980s.

[logansmall]

The Moskva would like to point out that fancy guns that aren't maintained are about as useful as a brick when an anti ship missile is incoming.

[xt]

Considering that the Russian navy DID sign off on the Moskva as 'combat ready', it's a pretty bad sign that they haven't with the two remaining ships of this class.

[boydpukalo]

The Kirov's were/are really cool. I was fascinated by them in the 1980's/1990's. They were typically described as battlecruisers, not battleships. Impressive ships.

[PsychicalTraumaPL]

2:15 Except that Yamato displaced almost 3x times the amount of water does (and was wider), and Bismarck was at almost double of Kirov... And on the picture for "bismarck", it's actually french battleship Richelieu

[jcmount]

Size yes, but battleships are also rated on tonnage. Kirov is 1/3 the tonnage of Yamato. 28, 000 vs. 71, 000 at full load out.

[LarryWater]

They’re one of my favorite class of modern warships.

[gothicalpha]

Handsome vessel, in well funded hands it would likely be a priority target

[ManofCulture]

KIROV REPORTING!
Setting new course.
Maneuver props engaged.
Bearing set.

[robertoliver]

The largest ship designed for ship to ship combat? Iowa class battleship: length 860 feet (213.13 m), beam 108 feet (32.97m.), standard displacement 45, 100 long tons, full load displacement 57, 411 long tons. Yamato class battleship: length 840 feet (256m), beam 127 feet 7 inches(38.9m.), displacement 69, 988 long tons, full load displacement 71, 659 long tons. Regardless of their actual use in WWII, the ships in these classes were designed for ship to ship combat.

[michaelhowell]

I have two Coleman Crawdads and a few kayaks. If recent events tell us anything, I think a few dudes, my dogs and myself could take one on.

[djzoodude]

Two comments: First, I believe it was recently announced, on April 21st that the currently only operational Kirov-class ship, the Peter the Great(I'm not sure of the correct spelling for its Russian name), is currently being decommissioned. It will not get upgrades and will be scrapped. The maintenance costs and modernization costs are too high. The other one may or may not ever re-enter service.

Second, I would recommend everyone read the report on the actual state of the Moskva prior to its sinking. Some highlights: half its engines were non-operational, several of its radars were non-functional, and it could not run both its primary radar and ship intercom system at the same time due to either power constraints or the two systems interfering with each other. So they ran the ship with the radar off. If any American, British, French, etc. ship had even 1/4th the problems the Moskva had, the captain would be court-martialed and the entire crew would be relieved of duty pending investigation. The Russians? Approved to set sail. Now take that, double the size of the ship, add a bunch more radars and weapons systems, and throw in a couple nuclear reactors. A Kirov is easily an order of magnitude more difficult to maintain than the Moskva. Not only are the Kirov class ships unlikely to be any sort of threat, with the general level of competence demonstrated by the Russian military and the Russian Navy in particular, a nuclear powered Kirov class battlecruiser is basically a disaster waiting to happen,

[kevinbarry]

In the event of a hot war these vessels would've worked wonderfully well as one time use submarines

[thelordofcringe]

The US still considers these extremely dangerous: when maintained... Russia has failed to maintain these for decades now. If they ever actually fix their navy, these will be once again incredibly dangerous. But the naval corruption is by far the worst in Russia, and it will likely be 2035 or even longer before its sorted out.

[b-lt]

Cool I didn't think they'd do it. Video request: SS Normandie. It's a really big old boat. Also fast. Almost 60 kph and 80k tons. First turbo electrically driven ocean liner. The fastest in the world for some periods of time. It's also a really pretty ship. Photogenic AF. She died young of course, which would add a dramatic element. My countrymen built her and it always makes me feel sad, when I see the pictures of her undignified end (thanks America....).

[myrlyn]

Kirov was supposed to be the big boss ship in the C64 game "Red Storm Rising" but two torpedoes turned it into an underwater reef everytime.

[stevenlarratt]

The fact that they go to sea with an ocean going tug tells you all you need to know about these...

[paulayala]

The Kirov class are similar in respect to the Yamato class of WWII, they were both meant to be the last word in naval warfare for a high seas battle which never materialized. Only with Yamato and Musashi, the advances in naval aircraft were their undoing. For the Kirov class, it is maintenance and corruption within the navy which will likely sink the class.

[Fat_Rob]

The truly impressive feat is your ability to present all of this information without laughing... If recent events are taken into consideration, a fishing trawler with a dozen or so bottle rockets would be more of a threat then anything the Russian Navy can put to sea.