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Russia Spent Decades Modernizing One Giant Cruiser—Now Its Flagship Is Headed for Scrap
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Russia’s flagship nuclear-powered battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy is no longer considered worth repairing or modernizing after years of accumulated wear, according to a preliminary assessment by a special commission.
Vladimir Maltsev, head of the All-Russian Fleet Support Movement, told Russian state media agency TASS that specialists had concluded the massive warship could not realistically be restored to service.
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“The cruiser cannot be restored. The ship has a certain degree of wear,” Maltsev said on the sidelines of the “330 Years of the Russian Fleet” forum.
He stressed that the finding remains preliminary and that a final decision will be announced later.
Nuclear-powered battlecruiser "Pyotr Velikiy" leads Barents Sea exercise north of Murmansk. https://t.co/5K67TYp6nE pic.twitter.com/mStmdBzTtj
— Massimo Frantarelli (@MrFrantarelli) May 24, 2021
According to a TASS source in Russia’s defense industry, Moscow had originally planned to begin modernizing Pyotr Velikiy immediately after completing work on its sister ship, Admiral Nakhimov. The idea was to ensure that the Russian Navy always retained at least one nuclear-powered cruiser of the class.
That plan fell apart as work on Admiral Nakhimov dragged on eight years beyond the original schedule. By the time the overhaul was finally nearing completion, Pyotr Velikiy had reportedly exhausted its remaining service life.
The cruiser serves as the flagship of Russia’s Northern Fleet and is the last active ship of the Soviet-designed Orlan nuclear-powered cruiser family.
Russian sources have long described it as the Navy’s most heavily armed surface strike vessel and one of the world’s largest surface combatants outside the aircraft-carrier category.
Four ships of the class were built at the Baltic Shipyard between 1977 and 1996. Two—Admiral Ushakov and Admiral Lazarev—have already been retired.
The modernization of Admiral Nakhimov, meanwhile, stretched across decades and was completed this summer. The cruiser is currently undergoing trials and is expected to return to the Northern Fleet before the end of 2026.
Sevmash, the Severodvinsk shipyard responsible for the overhaul program, has capacity to accommodate only one cruiser of the class at a time.
Work on Admiral Nakhimov had originally been expected to finish in 2018, but repeated delays pushed the program far beyond schedule. Its reported cost more than doubled during the process, eventually exceeding 200 billion rubles.
If Pyotr Velikiy is retired, Admiral Nakhimov will become Russia’s principal heavy surface combatant of the type.
The modernized ship is expected to carry Fort-M and Pantsir-M air-defense systems, Paket-NK and Otvet anti-submarine weapons, and universal vertical launch cells capable of holding as many as 80 Kalibr, Oniks, and Zircon missiles.
Earlier, reports emerged that Russia was preparing to retire its only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, effectively shutting down its fixed-wing carrier aviation.
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-ab85e10f0aa6d4f88fb6f519a6428448.jpg "Satellite imagery showing a destroyed Russian Su-57 fighter jet at the Akhtubinsk airfield in Russia’s Astrakhan region, October 29, 2026.")