Project 1153 Orel Explained

Project 1153 Orel (ru|Орёл pr: "Or'yol", Eagle) was a late 1970s plan to give the Soviet Navy a true blue water aviation capability. The aircraft carrier would have about 72,000 tons displacement, with a nuclear power plant and a steam catapults for aircraft launch, similar to the earlier Kitty Hawk-class supercarriers of the U.S. Navy. Unlike them and the preceding Soviet aircraft cruisers, it was also designed with a large offensive capability; the ship mounts including 20 vertical launch tubes for anti-ship cruise missiles.^[1] The Soviets classified it as a "large cruiser with aircraft armament".^[2]

Etymology

The project was codenamed Eagle (Орёл), just like the two earlier helicopter and aircraft cruiser projects, and several projects of other classes of ships, were named after birds of prey. However the carriers themselves were named after Soviet cities, while only frigates were named after birds (see Russian ship naming conventions); the actual projected name of the ships is not known.

History

The Project 1153 (itself based on an early-1970s Project 1160, confusingly also named Orel, even 10,000 tonnes heavier) was cancelled in October 1978 as being too expensive, and a smaller Project 1143.5, more V/STOL-aircraft-oriented, was developed instead: in its initial stage, a version of 65,000 tons and 52 aircraft was proposed, but the actual Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers are even smaller, about 55,000 tons.^[2] While the Project Orel never saw fruition, in the 1980s it influenced the also abortive Ulyanovsk program.

See also

• Soviet aircraft carrier Ulyanovsk
• Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov
• List of ships of the Soviet Navy
• List of ships of Russia by project number

Further reading

• Cigar . Norman . 1992 . Soviet Aircraft Carriers: Unfortunate Timing for a Long-held Dream . Naval War College Review . 45 . 2 . 20–34 . 0028-1484.
• Petersen . Charles C. . 1984 . Aircraft Carrier Development in Soviet Naval Theory . Naval War College Review . 37 . 1 . 4–13 . 0028-1484.
• Aircraft-Carrying Cruisers: We Knew What We Were Doing . V. . Kuzin . . 2 . February 1992 . 33–41. – translated copy available via the US government, pp. 22–29.
  • See also: Wright . Christopher C. . Harris . Allan C. . 1992 . Now Hear This . Warship International . 29 . 1 . 66–71 . 0043-0374.
  • Wright . Christopher C. . Harris . Allan C. . 1992 . Now Hear This . Warship International . 29 . 2 . 210–213 . 0043-0374.

External links

• "A Brief Look at Russian Aircraft Carrier Development," Robin J. Lee.

Notes and References

1. Web site: russiafile.com . russiafile.com . 2014-04-23.
2. Balakin, S., Zablotskiy, V. Sovyetskiye avianoscy. Avianesushchiye kreysera admirala Gorshkova. Moscow, 2007. . P.153-154