Russian battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy

Product Details

• Pyotr Velikiy (Russian: Пётр Великий) is the fourth Kirov-class battlecruiser of the Russian Navy. Initially named Yuri Andropov (Russian: Юрий Андропов) for Yuri Andropov, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party, the ship’s name was changed after the fall of the Soviet Union. The Russian designation for the type is “heavy nuclear missile cruiser.” But Western defense commentators have resurrected the term “battlecruiser” to describe them, as they are the largest surface combatant warships in the world. Pyotr Velikiy is the flagship of the Northern Fleet.Construction of the ship was delayed by lack of funding due to the national economic problems before and after the fall of the Soviet Union. It was not completed and commissioned until 1998, twelve years after work had started. By then it had been renamed Pyotr Velikiy, Russian for Peter the Great. Pyotr Velikiy has been known to carry two pennant numbers during its service: “183” and currently “099”. (info from Wikipedia).