A new purpose has been found for the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov - protecting tankers

The Project 1143.5 cruiser may serve in protecting vessels in remote maritime areas

The heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov of Project 1143.5 may receive a new role corresponding to the modern naval situation. This was reported by the Telegram channel Russkoe oruzhie.

Admiral Kuznetsov, Project 1143.5

The authors drew attention to the situation involving the pursuit of the tanker Marinera west of Ireland. The vessel is under constant surveillance by patrol and anti-submarine aircraft Boeing P-8A Poseidon.

Now let us think about whether it is really necessary to write off the already modernized Admiral Kuznetsov when we are talking about times in which preserving prestige, even in such seemingly elementary incidents, is extremely important...
Russkoe oruzhie

In July 2025, it became known that Admiral Kuznetsov is planned to be mothballed.

Former commander of the Pacific Fleet (PF), Admiral Sergei Avakyants, explained that in the event of mothballing, working mechanisms are removed from ships in order to install them on other vessels. At the same time, a minimum crew will still remain on the aircraft carrier to monitor its condition.

Chairman of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, Andrei Kostin, noted that continuing repairs on the aircraft carrier is pointless because of obsolescence and the high cost of the work.

Let us recall that the Project 1143.5 aircraft carrier had been under repair since 2017. According to various estimates, about 100 billion rubles were spent on it.

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