Class overview
Builders:	Chernomorsky Shipyard 444
Operators:	Soviet Navy Russian Navy Indian Navy
Preceded by:	Moskva class
Succeeded by:	Kuznetsov class (Russian Navy) Vikrant class (Indian Navy)
Subclasses:	Baku class
In service:	28 December 1975–1995 15 December 2013 – present
Completed:	4
Active:	1
Preserved:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Aviation cruiser
Displacement:	42,000–45,000 metric tons full load
Length:	273 m (896 ft)
Beam:	53 m (174 ft) o/a 31 m (102 ft) w/l
Draught:	10 m (33 ft)
Propulsion:	8 turbopressurized boilers, 4 steam turbines (200,000 shp (150,000 kW)), four shafts
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Complement:	1,200 to 1,600
Armament:	See article for variations 80 to 200 surface-to-air missiles 2 dual-purpose guns 8 close-in weapons systems 10 torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried:	Up to 30, including: 12 × Yak-38 aircraft 16 × helicopters
Aviation facilities:	Abbreviated angled aft flight deck

First laid down in 1970, the Kiev class was partially based on a design for a full-deck carrier proposed in Project Orel. Originally the Soviet Navy wanted a supercarrier similar to the American Kitty Hawk-class. However, the smaller Kiev-class design was chosen because it was considered to be more cost effective.

Unlike most NATO aircraft carriers, such as U.S. or British ones, the Kiev class is a combination of both a cruiser and an aircraft carrier. In the Soviet Navy, this class of ships was specifically designated as a "heavy aviation cruiser" ({lang-ru|Тяжелые авианесущие крейсера}}) rather than solely an aircraft carrier. This designation allowed the ships to transit the Turkish Straits, while the Montreux Convention prohibited aircraft carriers heavier than 15,000 tons from passing through the Straits.

The ships were designed with a large island superstructure to starboard, with an angled flight deck 2/3rds of the length of the total deck, and the foredeck was taken up with heavy surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missile armament. The intended mission of the Kiev class was support for strategic missile submarines, other surface ships and naval aviation; it was capable of engaging in anti-aircraft, anti-submarine, and surface warfare.

A total of four Kiev-class carriers were built and commissioned, serving in the Soviet and then Russian Navy. The first two ships were sold to China as museums, and the third ship was scrapped. The fourth ship, Admiral Gorshkov, was sold to the Indian Navy in 2004, and after years of extensive modifications and refurbishment, is currently in active service as INS Vikramaditya.^[2]