Russian Battlecruiser Pyotr Veliky

Russian Battlecruiser Pyotr Veliky

Petr Velikiy (Петр Великий) is a heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser (TARKR), the fourth Kirov class battlecruiser of the Russian Navy, originally shipyard name Yuri Andropov (Юрий Андропов). Although the ship is not a battlecruiser by the traditional definition of the type, but a missile cruiser (official: "Heavy Rocket Cruiser"), its size has given it the unofficial designation of a battlecruiser in the mass media of many countries. Petr Velikiy is the flagship of the Northern Fleet.

Because of economic problems both before and after the fall of the Soviet Union, work on the ship was severely postponed. It was not commissioned until 1996, ten years after the construction started. It had by then been renamed Petr Velikiy, Russian for Peter the Great.

After completing its acceptance trials in November 1996, the vessel was transferred to the Northern Fleet at Severomorsk becoming the flagship of the Northern Fleet.

In August 2000 Petr Velikiy was in the Barents Sea involved in the largest naval training exercise since the fall of the Soviet Union. The ship was to be the designated target of the Oscar-II class submarine K-141 Kursk, and was conducting evasive maneuvers when communication with Kursk was lost, the submarine apparently having suffered a catastrophic torpedo detonation with all hands lost. Petr Velikiy guarded the area where the submarine sank during the subsequent salvage operation in 2001.

In March 2004, Russian Navy chief Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov declared Petr Velikiy unfit for service due to problems with the ship's engineering maintenance. On April 19, 2004, it was docked in the floating drydock PD-50 for painting of the underside of the hull, repairs and examination of the steering system. The repairs were completed later that year, and it was carrying out missions again by August. Petr Velikiy has been known to carry two pennant numbers during its service; "183" and currently "099".