As the most formidable opponent of the United States that year, the Soviet Union was impeccable in strength, but it was somewhat disappointing in terms of aircraft carrier construction, which of course had an important connection with the late start. However, in order to meet external needs, the Soviet Union did not take the usual path and developed a so-called heavy cruiser with an overall performance that was almost equivalent to that of an aircraft carrier. Generally speaking, aircraft carriers, as a powerful platform for maritime operations, were mainly realized by carrier-based aircraft, so the Soviet Union was indeed inferior to the United States from this point of view. When history developed into the current era, the cruiser's special equipment basically disappeared.
Despite this, cruisers are still obsessed with the outside world, and some countries even let cruisers continue to play an important role. As far as the U.S. Navy is concerned, in the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier battle queue, the Ticonderoga-class cruisers still exist as command ships and have an important position. Compared with the above cruisers, the Kirov-class nuclear-powered combat cruisers that the Soviet Union built in that year are more radiant. It is reported that the Kirov class was born in the 1960s, when there were 4 ships, but 3 have been decommissioned so far, and only 1 cruiser Peter the Great has been served.
It is understood that the cruiser was built in 1986 and belonged to the Kirov-class nuclear cruiser No. 4, which was also called Andropov at the time. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and Russia succeeding to its position, the ship was officially renamed and was not loaded in the Northern Fleet until 1998. As one of the world-renowned large warships, it has a huge displacement of 24,000 tons. While the United States decommissioned nuclear-powered cruisers and other countries introduced frigates and destroyers, Russia has always had a fondness for the cruiser, making it the only nuclear-powered cruiser in the world today.
It is also understood that the cruiser has a strong firepower attack capability, which is closely related to its configuration. It is reported that the ship can carry a variety of ammunition such as SS-N-19 supersonic anti-ship missiles, SA-N-4 air defense missiles and SS-N-15 long-range anti-submarine missiles, with a total of more than 400 pieces. In addition, the ship can also deploy Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopters, etc., and has a variety of attack methods.
In summary, although there are many detours in the construction of aircraft carriers, Russia has a more reliable guarantee against the United States because of the cruiser Peter the Great.