Key Points and Summary: Russia’s Kirov-class battlecruisers, once symbols of naval power, face a grim future as the Admiral Nakhimov remains stuck in repairs since 2013.
-Costing over $1 billion, the refit is hampered by outdated shipyards, reliance on Ukrainian-built powerplants, and financial strain from the Ukraine war.
With energy export revenues plummeting, Russia’s ability to maintain large surface vessels is in question.
-Analysts predict a shift toward smaller frigates and corvettes, which lack the weaponry and endurance of the Kirov-class.
-Without these iconic ships, Russia’s overseas power projection will be severely limited, marking the decline of its blue-water naval ambitions.
The End of an Era? Russia’s Kirov-Class Battlecruisers in Jeopardy
Russia’s Navy has suffered numerous ignominious losses since the war with Ukraine began, not the least of which was the April 2022 sinking of the Moskva guided-missile cruiser, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet.
Having a prominent surface ship sunk by a nation (Ukraine) with almost no Navy of its own was enough of an embarrassment in and of itself.
But what was worse was the after-action reporting on the event showed that the ship sank due to significant negligence on the part of the ship’s command, a number of the on-board systems being either out of commission or in dire need of repair, and a sensor suite that was inadequate to the task.
One report states that the MR-800 Voshkod/Top Pair radar could not differentiate between the Ukrainian-made Luch Neptune ASMs “flying over the sea and the crests of the waves due to the stormy weather.”
Shipyards Without Resources
In this environment of poor to non-existent maintenance of naval vessels, the Russian Navy’s Kirov-class nuclear-powered battlecruiser, the Admiral Nakhimov, is being re-fitted – ostensibly to return the ship to service.
However, there are numerous indicators that the idea of the ship returning to service is a true triumph of hope over experience.
The list of ills working against the ship’s successful re-fit is long. Some of the more vexing issues, in no particular order, are:
-The ship has been undergoing repairs for more than a decade – since 2013, according to some naval analysts. This length of time does not bode well as it usually means problems are preventing the repairs from being completed for which there are no workarounds.

Aerial starboard quarter view of the Soviet Kirov-class guided missile destroyer FRUNZE underway back in 1985.
-The total cost of the re-fit is in the range of $1 billion.The Kirov-class ships are all powered by nuclear reactors that require a specific high grade of enriched uranium, which is problematic. The ship’s engines are from the same time frame as the Kuznetsov and are built by the same Ukrainian firm that builds other marine gas-turbine engines – the only source of these powerplants in the former USSR.
-These and other shortcomings of Russia’s increasingly antiquated shipyards have kept all of the Kirov-class from missions except for the Pyotr Veliky, the last ship in that class, which launched in 1998. It is supposed to be withdrawn from service for repairs, but only once the Nakhimov re-fit is complete. A queue has now formed at the repair plant, and there appears to be no way to clear it.
Future Shock for Kir0v-Class
What is ahead for Russia is a looming financial crisis over the cost of the war that impacts the ability to maintain a standing navy of its pre-war size. Estimates vary, but figures of $500 million or more per day are circulating.
There are also secondary costs to the Russian economy, such as the drop in revenues from energy exports, which had been one of Moscow’s primary sources of foreign currency earnings.
Those export earnings are set to decline by $117.53 billion, or 5.1 percent of gross domestic product, in 2025. Tax revenues from gas output will fall by more than 30 percent. This trend will continue through 2026 and 2027.

Kirov-Class. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Russian shipyards are already short of the investment needed to service the fleet adequately. This is why the Kirov-class ships show no signs of being ready to exit their berths at the repair embankment anytime soon.
Forecasters, like the Russian analyst Pavel Luzin, are predicting that the large, heavy naval vessels are simply unaffordable and will eventually be cast aside and withdrawn from service – with the inability of Russia to build the sizeable marine gas turbines that power them is the key factor.
Smaller ships will instead take their place, meaning “frigates and corvettes,” he stated in a previous interview with Forbes. “They are the biggest types of warships that Russia is capable of producing in the face of the engine challenge.”
But the smaller ships lack the time on station and the ability to carry the same volume of weaponry that the large vessels were designed for, he added. “Without cruisers and guided-missile destroyers, Russian capabilities for power projection overseas will be limited.”

A starboard bow view of the Soviet Kirov-class nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser KALININ.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw and has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defence technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
