Soviet aviation history

[Joe C-P]

Comrades!

Here I shall attempt to eludicate the history of carrier aviation in the Soviet Navy. I have enjoyed a large screwdriver, naturally made with good Russian vodka. (The orange juice is merely for health reasons) before commencing this writing.
If you find any errors in the history, know that capitalist war-mongering computer hackers may have access to my potato-powered Leda model computer, so they may deliberatly twist or corrupt the true history. If you discover any such errors, please post them so that the capitalist running dogs of the West   will not win victory over the great Revolution!

Iosef R


A history of Soviet Naval Aviation

In 1922, the Soviets converted a small freighter into an experiment carrier, the Komsomolets. She proved too small and slow for carrier operations, and after several accidents, she was retired. The Kremlin decided not to pursue carriers any further, as the USSR was a land power, and had no need to waste useful resources on carrier aviation.

The Great Patriotic War demonstrated that even the Soviet Union needed carriers, then to escort the vital Murmansk convoys, and in the future to extend the power of the Soviet Armed Forces to all parts of the globe.

1943, pilots and sailors were sent to the West, in limited numbers, to train for carrier ops. Six months later, the US handed over two CVEs plus a number of Wildcats and Avengers. These operated on the Murmansk run until early 1945, when Stalin demanded a larger carrier better able to handle the northern weather. The US traded the CVEs for the CVL Ely, sister to Wright and Saipan.

With the Soviet victory over the Nazis and Japan, they took over Graf Zeppelin as a war prize, and received the Italian Aquila as further compensation. The Allies allowed them to take the latter as she was incomplete, in poor shape, and  her engines deliberately damaged. By the end of 1946 the US was handed back Ely. The aircraft stayed in Russia; being prop-driven they were unwanted by the USN, which was rapidly replacing their aircraft with more powerful models, and would soon be embarking jets.

The Soviet Navy had learned enough from operating the escort and light carriers that they could update the former Graf Zeppelin, now named Ukraine SSR, to serve as an interim light carrier. Her specifications:

Displacement: 26,300 tons
Length (OA): 820 ft
Beam: 104 ft.
Speed: 33 knots
Armament: 5 100mm AA guns in single mounts, 12 37mm in twin mounts
Complement: 1522 plus air wing
Air group: 15 fighters, 15 bombers


Aquila was repaired and completed, being relaunced as the Stalin. With her they finally had a proper fleet carrier, fast and large enough to carry a significant airgroup. Her specifications:

Displacement: 28,800 tons
Length (OA): 759 feet
Beam: 98 feet
Speed: 31 knots
Armament: 8 100mm AA guns in twin mounts, 18 37mm in twin mounts
Complement: 1345 plus air crew
Air group: 24 fighters, 24 bombers


They operated former US Avengers and Wildcats, and later tested several indigenous designs modified for carrier operation. While Stalin appears smaller dimensionally, she had a larger, better laid out flight deck and better hangar arrangements.

Their researchers in the West also picked up the lastest advances in carrier design and operation from the USN and RN. Six months after the RN unveiled their new light landing system, the Soviets were testing a copy on Ukraine SSR. Within a year of the unveiling of Antietam's angled deck Ukraine SSR was taken out of service for a similar, though more limited upgrade like those of Royal Navy carriers. Her deck was angled to 4.5 degrees, and the Soviets immediately began learning the new way of operating aircraft. She could just launch and land at the same time, though not as efficiently as the new US upgraded Essexes, and so Stalin was sent to the yards for a more extensive rebuild.

Stalin was completely rebuilt from the hangar deck up, with an 8 degree angled deck to port, new catapults, and enlarged elevators. She also had her airgroup upgraded with new jets and helicopters. Her new specifications were:

Displacement: 35,200 tons
Length (OA): 787 feet
Beam: 114 feet
Speed: 29 knots
Armament: 8 100mm AA guns, 8 37mm in twin mounts
Complement: 1150 plus air crew
Air group: 18 fighters, 18 bombers, 6 helicopters


In 1955 the Soviet Navy commenced building their first carrier from the keel up. Fiasco was launched six  years later, and immediately took on a 10 degree list to starboard. The fitting out process actually made the list worse, and remedies had to be applied, including bulging the starboard side and adding several hundred tons of permanent ballast in the port wing tanks. This reduced the list to under 3 degrees, but also dropped her maximum speed three knots and introduced a tendency to turn to starboard on straight rudder.

She took aboard her first airgroup three years after launching, where it was discovered that the hangar deck was too low to accommodate the helos, which lead to a significant reworking of the myriad of pipes, wiring and flight deck supports over the next year.

In the meantime, the more successful Leningrad and Moscow were launched, providing them the opportunity to shift the organic ASW assets off Ukraine and Stalin. Both carriers had had their airgroups significantly reduced in number as aircraft grew in size, and needed the space they gained. Ukraine was reaching the end of her active life, and she was shifted to training duties. The Fiasco, however, could never seem to work. Every fix, upgrade and modification made her heavier, slower, and introduced new problems. The Soviet Navy was left with one working large carrier, completely outclassed by the new generation of American and British supercarriers.

In the mid-1960s work on Fiasco was finally abandoned, and a new carrier started, using expertise and plans ìobtainedî from the West. The Orel would turn out to be a successful design, large enough to operate a useful  airgroup of  the latest Soviet aircraft. She was comparable to the British CVA-01, and the Soviets boasted the next ship would be more powerful than the USNs giants. Orel's specifications were:

Displacement: 71,800 tons
Length (OA): 950 feet
Beam: 125 feet
Speed: 30 knots
Armament: 3 x twin SA-N-4, 8 AK-630, 2 RBU-6000
Complement: 1640 plus air wing
Air group: 42 fighter-bombers, 3 AEW aircraft, 4 ASW helos


However, the next aviation ships to emerge from the Soviet yards were new helicopter carriers, of a type completely dissimilar to any previous. While the Kievs sported angled decks, the foredeck was given over to a powerful array of SSMs and SAMs. Further, they had no catapults, meaning the only fixed wing aircraft they could operate were the VTOL YaK-38 Forgers, and most of their airgroup were helicopters, used for ASW and mid-flight guidance for the SSMs.

Orel's sister was stopped due to lack of funds when she was only 12% complete. However, her availability allowed the Soviets to finally retire the worn-out Ukraine, and reduce Stalin to mostly training duties, though she did stand forward when Orel was in for upgrades and maintenance.

After the third Kiev was launched in 1983, work was begun on another carrier. Over the next decade she would slowly grow, with several interruptions, into a supercarrier equal to the vaunted Nimitz class.

Ulyanovsk was a true supercarrier, nuclear propelled, fully capable of operating a significant group of the latest carrier-modified jets. 19,000 tonnes larger than Orel, with a fourth elevator and catapult, she could carry almost two dozen more large jets, and was armed with the latest air defense system, including the Skywatch phased array radar system. Her specifications were:

Displacement: 87,000 tons
Length (OA): 1067 ft
Beam: 240 ft
Speed: 29 knots
Armament: 4x6 SA-N-9, 4 Kashtan CADS-N-1, 8 AK-630, 2 RBU-12000
Complement: 2245 plus air wing
Air group: 56 fighters/fighter-bombers, 4 AEW aircraft, 8-12 ASW helos


Her sister is currently still building.  

[Nick]

Comrade, I must correct you on the renaming of the Aquila. The great Stalin had a battleship named after him, to reflect the meaning of his name as 'The Iron Man'.  She was built in Vladivostok and completed in 1945.
The Aquila carrier was renamed the 'Lenin', to relfect the way he spread the great beginnings of Communism around the globe.
It would seem those blasted capitalists get everywhere .

Comrade Nikolai Kvwovb    

[Joe C-P]

Comrade, I must correct you on the renaming of the Aquila. The great Stalin had a battleship named after him, to reflect the meaning of his name as 'The Iron Man'.  She was built in Vladivostok and completed in 1945.
The Aquila carrier was renamed the 'Lenin', to relfect the way he spread the great beginnings of Communism around the globe.
It would seem those blasted capitalists get everywhere .

Comrade Nikolai Kvwovb  

Ah, yes, yes, now I remember.  
My memory is not what it once was, as I do not consume as much vodka as I need.

I still do not remember the actual name of the vessel that came from the Orel project. Can any of our Comrades remember?

Iosef R

[Geoff_B]

Comrade Iosef

Project # 1153 Orel was named "Sovietsky Soyuz" (re - warships1).

As to Carrier development, how about the USSR taking over the ex-Imperialist Japanese Carriers after the War as their was four of the Unryu class that could be recycled.

Pitroads New Unryu class
 

[Joe C-P]

Comrade Iosef

Project # 1153 Orel was named "Sovietsky Soyuz" (re - warships1).

As to Carrier development, how about the USSR taking over the ex-Imperialist Japanese Carriers after the War as their was four of the Unryu class that could be recycled.

Pitroads New Unryu class

Hmmm... Perhaps because that was on our Pacific coast, in Vladivostok, where my resources do not reach?

Perhaps, Comrade Thorvic, you might be able to research the history of the pair of Imperialist Japanese ships recovered and operated by our great Navy in the Far East after the Great Patriotic War, given as compensation for the Motherland's invaluable contribution to the war against the Empire.

I myself am researching further details of the current class of CVNs, the Ulyanovsks. It seems the capitalist American swine copied the design retroactively for their inferior Nimitz class, and as I have a model of such (only for destructive purposes, Friendly Neighborhood KGB Agent!) I perhaps may be able to extend the model history into the 1990s or beyond.

Up the USSR!

Comrade Iosef R