Outside View: Carrier visions -- Part 1

MOSCOW, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The decision has been made. It has been sealed and decided: Russia will build aircraft carriers.

After years of debate, the Russian naval command and the national leadership seem to have agreed that the navy should have such ships. But this has not always been the case. To understand current thinking, it is necessary to take a look at the history of aircraft carrier building in Russia.

The Russian navy first used seaplanes in World War I, when its Black Sea Fleet used them to bombard enemy ports.

The possibility of building full-scale aircraft carriers was first mooted in Russia after the 1918-1919 Civil War. Plans were drawn up to convert some ships -- the training ship Komsomolets, the battleship Poltava and uncompleted battle cruisers of the Izmail class -- into a new type of vessels.

However, the economy and industry were at such low ebb that the programs had to be postponed until better times.

The next step was taken in the late 1930s, when Soviet naval architects came up with two new projects: Project 71 -- a light aircraft carrier with 45 planes -- and Project 72 -- a heavy aircraft carrier with 62 planes.

The work got under way, but World War II intervened. After the war the naval chiefs again raised the issue, but Soviet leaders did not share the admirals' enthusiasm for this class of vessels. Nonetheless, the shipbuilding program that the Soviet Union adopted in the 1950s provided for the construction of two light aircraft carriers, to gain operating experience and test their capabilities.

But when Josef Stalin died in 1953, construction of large surface ships practically ground to a halt: The new leadership did not believe in traditional fighting services and opted for missile and nuclear weapons. The question was shelved for 10 more years.

In the late 1960s the Russian navy got its first helicopter cruisers, Moskva and Leningrad. But they were specialist craft intended for very specific missions and could not operate as regular carriers. Meanwhile, the Nevsky PKB, the country's largest producer of surface ships, was pondering plans for a carrier of 45,000 to 50,000 tons.

Intended to provide air cover for groups of surface ships and submarines, it was to carry a complement of 35 to 40 planes, including deck-based MiG-23 fighters, early warning aircraft and helicopters. The ship's own armaments were meant to deal with aircraft and submarines.

But instead of a fully operational carrier, the Russian navy again got a dud -- the Nikolayev shipyard began building a series of Project 1143 ships. These so-called heavy aircraft carrying cruisers were to be equipped with hunter-killer helicopters and Yak-38 vertical take-off and landing planes. Bazalt anti-ship missiles provided an additional capability.

Still, the idea of a full-blooded Russian aircraft carrier was slowly but surely forcing its way into the open. It had high-placed patrons: Minister of Shipbuilding Boris Butoma, who was interested in big orders from the navy, and Defense Minister Andrei Grechko, who quite undiplomatically requested that industry build aircraft carriers like the USS Nimitz. It was decided that with completion of the two Project 1143 heavy aircraft carriers Kiev and Minsk, the first carrier of Project 1160, with a displacement of 80,000 tons, would be laid down.

--

(Part 2: Questions concerning the future operation of Russian aircraft carriers)

--

(Ilya Kramnik is a military commentator for RIA Novosti. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.)

--

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)