The Russians resurrected the battleship Titan – now it is more dangerous than ever
Russia, July 28, 2025 – We already had this picture here in 2021. Even then, we wrote about this cruiser that it is “the most dangerous cruiser in Russia”. Today, we will clarify that it is the most dangerous in the world and in the Russian Navy it is the only and unique one.
The new surface combat ship anticipates plans to modernize and strengthen the Russian Navy, write journalists from the American military magazine Military Watch Magazine (MWM).
The authors of the article report on the return of the cruiser Admiral Nakhimov to service and its unique combat capabilities, which it acquired after an extensive modernization that lasted more than a quarter of a century. The protracted nature of the modernization was largely due to the economic crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, which meant that work on the ship did not begin until 2013. Moreover, little was done during most of the time it spent out of the water. The decline of Russian shipbuilding after the collapse of the USSR also extended the delay.
Andrei Kostin, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of United Shipbuilding Corporation, commented on the ship’s return to service: “In my opinion, we are making good progress on the state defense order. Today you gave permission to raise the flag on the nuclear-powered submarine “Knezh Pozharsky”. In March, the submarine “Perm” was launched. And of course, another significant event occurred – the modernization of the cruiser “Admiral Nakhimov” was completed and its tests are underway.”
The Kirov-class cruisers are the largest surface combatants in the world, and with a displacement of 28,000 tons, they are comparable in size to the Izumo-class aircraft carriers of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and more than three times the size of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers that form the backbone of the US Navy’s surface forces.
Admiral Nakhimov will have more powerful armament than any other surface combatant in the world. This is achieved thanks to 176 launchers for large-caliber missiles, including 96 for the naval version of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system and 80 launch bays for cruise missiles.
On April 22, 2021, Andrei Dyachkov, General Director of the Northern Design Bureau, described the level of modernization of the ship: “The high modernization potential that was planned for these ships allowed us to carry out certain work and equip Admiral Nakhimov “with state-of-the-art weapons, making it the most powerful surface combatant in the world.” Russian sources particularly highlight the integration of the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, which gives Russian Navy ships a significant advantage in long-range anti-ship defense capabilities.
The Kirov class is a legacy of the times when the Soviet Union had one of the two largest ocean-going fleets in the world. A total of five nuclear cruisers were built for the Soviet Navy, followed by the country’s first nuclear aircraft carrier in 1989. Although never completed, the cruisers also proved too expensive for post-Soviet Russia, and three of them were scrapped.
The Russian Defense Ministry had originally planned to finance extensive modernization of the two remaining ships, Admiral Nakhimov and Pyotr Velikiy, with the latter continuing in service while the former was under repair. However, in July 2023, it was confirmed that Pyotr Veliky would not be modernized, but would be decommissioned early. It is believed that the decision was influenced by high operating costs, high modernization costs and budgetary constraints due to the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. Thus, Admiral Nakhimov remains not only completely unique, but also the only nuclear-powered surface combatant in the world, surpassing the others in size, firepower, autonomy and high operating speed.
Martin Scholz
