Ilya Kramnik
The Indian Navy’s new aircraft carrier Vikramaditya – formerly the Soviet heavy aircraft cruiser Admiral Gorshkov – is undergoing tests in the White Sea. The ship is to return to India by the end of the year.
The heavy airborne cruiser Admiral Gorshkov, built in Nikolaev as part of Project 1143, was the fourth and last Kiev class ship. The story of this family of aircraft carrier ships began in the 1960s when, after Nikita Khrushchev’s resignation, the USSR resumed creating a large surface fleet.
These heavy aircraft cruisers have a complicated background. Their design was the result of many compromises between the Ministry of the Shipbuilding Industry, the military command, seamen and the Soviet political leadership. The fleet expected to get universal combat ships which were cheaper than the US Navy’s combat aircraft carriers. The air wing was to consist of Ka-25 anti-submarine helicopters, and Yak-36 (Yak-38) vertical take-off and landing aircraft.
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