A special commission has reached a preliminary conclusion that repairing the heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy is unfeasible due to wear, marking a transition for the Russian Navy as officials weigh retiring the surface combatant.
Vladimir Maltsev announced the assessment during the All-Russian Forum 330 Years to the Russian Fleet. Speaking to TASS, Maltsev stated that the cruiser cannot be restored
because the ship has a certain degree of wear
. Officials stress that the determination remains preliminary and a final decree has yet to be issued. The vessel’s fate is tied to its physical deterioration and prolonged inactivity at berth since 2023.
Overhauling Project 1144 Orlan Cruisers
Constructed at the Baltic Shipyard between 1977 and 1996, the Project 1144 Orlan class produced four heavy nuclear-powered missile cruisers. Pyotr Velikiy is the fourth and final unit. Two earlier hulls—Admiral Ushakov and Admiral Lazarev—have been decommissioned and sent for scrapping. The modernized sister ship Admiral Nakhimov is the sole operational asset of its class, having entered sea trials in the White Sea following a refit.
🇷🇺 Russia will scrap the Pyotr Velikiy, its most powerful nuclear-powered warship and flagship of its Northern Fleet, reports say.A commission found the 1990s-era cruiser too worn out to repair or upgrade. It was supposed to be modernized after its sister ship, but that… pic.twitter.com/UTfLZvuHMF
Defense planners originally intended to modernize Pyotr Velikiy immediately after work finished on Admiral Nakhimov. Delays pushed the overhaul of Admiral Nakhimov past initial projections, stretching over nearly three decades and doubling costs to exceed 200 billion rubles. Severodvinsk-based Sevmash facilities can accommodate only one such vessel at a time. The eight-year delay left Pyotr Velikiy with zero remaining operational margin.
Vladimir Maltsev noted in the corridors of the All-Russian Forum 330 Years to the Russian Fleet that out of atomic vessels, only the Admiral Nakhimov remains. Maltsev remarked that heavy nuclear missile cruisers belonging to the Orlan design represent one of the most successful achievements in shipbuilding history, observing that nothing better exists today. An industry insider told TASS that initially the plan called for beginning updates on Pyotr Velikiy subsequent to finishing operations on the sister vessel so that at least one unit of this category remained within the navy. Yet, delays on the Nakhimov project rendered timely modernization impossible, as the operational resource of the vessel could not sustain it until then. According to the agency’s interlocutor, once the Nakhimov overhaul concludes, Pyotr Velikiy was slated for withdrawal from the fleet.
Impacts on the Northern Fleet
Displacing more than 25,000 tons and carrying 20 P-700 Granit anti-ship cruise missiles, Pyotr Velikiy stands as the world’s heaviest non-aviation combat ship. The flagship served as the centerpiece of Northern Fleet surface operations with a standard complement of roughly 740 crew members. Naval analysts note that the departure of the vessel forces a reappraisal of ocean-going fleet strategy.
Former Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Sergey Avakyants argued against funding a refit for Pyotr Velikiy, contending that the cruiser possessed an unjustified cost-to-effectiveness ratio. Avakyants suggested that allocating funds toward multiple smaller ocean-zone corvettes carrying modern missile systems yields higher combat utility than maintaining a single massive hull. Vladimir Maltsev maintained that the Orlan design remains one of the successful engineering achievements in maritime history, asserting that better than them today, there is nothing
.
Russia’s most powerful nuclear-powered cruiser, the Pyotr Velikiy, is to be scrappedIt is the flagship of Russia’s Northern Fleet and the only operational nuclear-powered vessel of the Orlan-class project.A commission has deemed the cruiser’s repair and modernisation… pic.twitter.com/x3xIEnqz8j
Admiral Nakhimov Completes Trials Before Joining Northern Fleet
State sea trials for the modernized Admiral Nakhimov are scheduled for completion before the end of the year, after which the sister ship will integrate into the Northern Fleet. The updated vessel carries Fort-M and Pantsir-M air defense systems, Paket-NK and Otvet anti-submarine armaments, and universal vertical launchers capable of deploying Kalibr, Oniks, and Zircon missiles.