Soviet/Russian vessels

By: GDL - 11th July 2004 at 04:37 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

I was reading the 1983 edition of Soviet Military Power the other day...good fun to read it, and compare their speculations about the future with what really happened.

I was just wondering what actually happened to their ships. I know India bought the carrier, and that they have scrapped whole lot of them.
But the newer classes like Udaloy and Sovremenny...not to mention the Kirov...where are they, are they still in use? And does anyone consider them to be capable combatants this days?

Just wondering..

Helidriver

A very brief answer......

A small-to-moderate portion of the OLD Soviet fleet is still in service although largely inactive, nuclear-powered submarines in particular. On the KIROVs, at least 3 are still in service but again only one is truely active. The UDALOY and UDALOY II class DDGs are still there and active, although probably not the entire list, same with the SOVREMENNY class. In fact I have not heard much at all about Russian SOVREMENNY class DDGs going anywhere lately, whereas two UDALOYs were sent to the IFR in India last year. Also, the Russians still have at least one SLAVA class CG active and it visited Japan I think also last year, or a year before, I am not sure.

There are others, but I would have to dive into a current fleet list and don't have the time, but I think someone else might...

I would personally consider them capable even today in the roles they were designed for.