Tractor on the deck of Admiral Kuznetsov carrier
As was previously reported, in mid-October Admiral Kuznetsov will begin the long-lasting deployment finishing in 2017. Russian defense minister, Sergey Shoygu, said the aircraft carrier would join the Russian Navy’s standing task force in the east Mediterranean. As became known last week, participation of Admiral Kuznetsov in a joint naval exercise with Egyptian Mistral-class helicopter carriers early in 2017 is under consideration.
The ship finished her previous long-range voyage in May 2014 and also spent most of the time deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. Afterwards, Admiral Kuznetsov passed technical recovery at the 35th Ship Repair Plant in Murmansk, which has finished last summer.
Upon her return to the Northern Fleet in 2017, the cruiser will undergo a large-scale modernization that will take at least two years roughly.
Admiral Kuznetsov is the Russia’s only Project 11435 ship. The heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser was laid down under the name of Riga at the Chernomorsky Shipyard in 1982 and launched late in 1985 with the name of Leonid Brezhnev. In 1987, the ship was renamed Tbilisi, and only in the falls of 1990 got her current name, Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union N.G. Kuznetsov. Since 1991, the ship has been operated by the Northern Fleet.
