Brief Operational History

The Kara guided missile cruiser first entered service in the early 1970's as a larger version of the Kresta design.  Unlike the Kresta's steam powered engines, the Kara class has a more powerful COGAG gas turbine engine.  It also offered better anti-air and anti-submarine capabilities.

It was such an improvement over the Kresta that when on the second of March of 1973 the Nikolayev entered the Mediterranean sea Western analysts became very concerned.  The ship bristled with weapons and electronics and led many in the West to believe that the ship had no equal in their navies.  It was true that the ship was very advanced, but it was far from the invincible monster that they had envisioned.

Like the Kresta, the Kara has a small helicopter deck that operates a Kamov Ka-25 'Hormone-A' helicopter for anti-submarine use.  The SS-N-3 'Goblet' missiles that the warship carries can be equipped with a 25 kiloton nuclear warhead for anti-shipping use instead of the standard 150kg high explosive warhead.  During the later stages of the Cold War at least one quarter of these missiles were equipped with the nuclear option.

As of 1988 there were seven ships of this class in service with the Soviet navy.  They were called the Nikolayev, Ochakov, Kerch, Azov, Petropavlovsk, Tashkent, and Tallinn.  Four of the warships were assigned to the Black Sea Fleet where they patrol the Mediterranean sea (except the Azov which is used for trials).  The other three served  with the Pacific fleet.  All of the ships were stricken from the fleet rosters in the 1990's.

Tactical Use and Limitations

In a wartime situation the Kara would have been used in the anti-submarine role and as the leader of hunter-killer groups.  Its advanced sensor and communication systems also gave it good anti-aircraft capabilities for fleet defense.

Deployment Chronology

Here you can see what warships the Kara replaced and what ships evolved later to fill the missile cruiser role.  You can find out more about these ships if we have them on our site by clicking on the links below.   The Kara only partially replaced the Kresta in the anti-submarine role.  It was the most advanced ASW ship in the Russian fleet until its retiring in the 1990's.  Since then all ASW work has been shifted to destroyers.

Sources Cited

Here are some of the most informative sources that we have used in compiling this information for you.  We hope you can find them as useful as we have.

• The Illustrated Directory of Warships from 1860 to the Present, by David Miller, published by Motorbooks International, Osceola, WI, 2001

• The Encyclopedia of World Sea Power, Edited by Chris Bishop, published by Crescent Books, New York, 1988

• Russian Military Power, Edited by Ray Bonds, published by Bonanza Books, New York, 1982