Admiral Nakhimov commences sea trials

Russia contracted Sevmash to upgrade the Kirov-class battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov , with work beginning in December 2013. (Sevmash)

Russian Kirov-class nuclear-powered cruiser Admiral Nakhimov commenced sea trials on 18 August 2025 following a lengthy modernisation programme at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk. Work officially began on the upgrade in December 2013, although the cruiser had been laid up in Severodvinsk since 1997.

Originally commissioned as Kalinin in 1988 , Admiral Nakhimov has undergone a substantial amount of work that has seen the 20 P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 ‘Shipwreck') anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), with which it was originally equipped, removed and replaced with a total of 80 UKSK vertical launching system (VLS) cells mounted in 10 eight-cell modules.

The fitting of the UKSK VLS will bring considerably more operational flexibility as it will allow Admiral Nakhimov to launch all the weapons from the Kalibr family (the SS-N-27 ‘Sizzler' anti-ship missile; the SS-N-30 ‘Sagaris' land attack missile; and the SS-N-31 ‘Swordfish' anti-submarine missile), plus the Oniks anti-ship missile (SS-N-26 ‘Strobile') and the Tsirkon hypersonic missile (SS-N-33).

In addition to new offensive weapons, the defensive suite has been upgraded. The original S-300F (SA-N-6 ‘Grumble') long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system has been removed and replaced either with the navalised version of the S-300PMU1 (SA-N-20) or a new navalised S-400 (SA-21 ‘Growler'). Exactly which missile system is fitted is not currently clear, but new fire-control radars have been fitted fore and aft in place of the old Top Dome systems and these will likely provide more clues in time.