The Most Insanely Armed Incredibly Smoking Aircraft Carrier 

Seem to be some missing items from the ship's lore: Assignment to the Kuznetsov is considered a punishment akin to a prison sentence, colloquially known as being "Kuznetsov'ed". During the last deployment to Syria the ship was reduced to one working bathroom for the entire crew... and a perpetual 2-hr 3-hr line for the bathroom.. During the last deployment the heat and air conditioning failed to function.. For a portion of the deployment the ship ran on only one boiler.. After the aircraft was lost (which is mentioned) all aircraft were transferred off the carrier to land, finished the deployment from land, and flew home without the carrier.. After the Syrian deployment, the ship's floating dock sank (which is mentioned) taking Kuznetsov with the sinking dock and dropping a heavy (70 ton) shipyard crane though Kuznetsov's flight deck... causing major structural damage... and remains un-repaired.. Since the dock/crane incident, Kuznetsov has also had a major fire which gutted the central portion of the ship... and remains un-repaired.. While Putin insists the ship will be brought back to seaworthy status, there are no funds in the budget for the repair... and no scheduled repair.. The Kuznetsov crew has now essentially been released to other duties.

I remember when the ship's evaporator broke down while in the Med and the USS America Battle Group Commander sent parts and technicians to them to repair their evaporator. I was on USS Whidbey Island LSD 41 on my first Mediterranean deployment August 1995-February 1996

You left out so many important things about the ship. Like the sinking of the drydock it was in or the fact a falling crane punched a giant whole in the flight deck. Oh and cant forget the boiler problems or the horrible fuel issues , the that its engines have broken down so many times it hard to keep track and that's why it has to be accompanied every where it goes by the tugboat. Hardly any of the bathrooms work. No heat or AC for the crew. The water filtration system for making fresh water is ALWAYS BROKEN. I COULD GO ON BUT I THINK I MADE MY POINT.

The most impressive thing about the Admiral Kuznetsov is that it has been refitted with special nets designed to land T-72 turrets.

Ward Carroll had me in stitches. I couldn't believe it. "A fire was caused by a pile of oily rags." That's not even like military doctrine. I learned not to pile up oily rags next to paint cans by age 7 by reading the back of a paint can.

Glorious tactical tug boat from the Russian federation

The first ship ever to be powered by burning old tyres.

Ward Carroll has a really good video on the ship. It was given four different names. Renaming a ship once is bad luck in the Navy, nevermind doing it four times.

“A boat is a hole in the water you throw money into.” More seriously, ships and airplanes are complex, difficult to build, expensive to buy and even more expensive to operate and maintain.

On 30 October 2018, the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov was damaged when the dry dock PD-50 suddenly sank under it causing one of the dock's 70-ton cranes to crash onto the ship's flight deck.

The reason they call it a heavy aircraft carrying cruiser is because it is illegal for aircraft carriers to transit the Bospherous straits meaning it would have been stuck in the Black sea.

On thing which wasn't mentioned... the reason the ship produces so much smoke from its stack (much more these days than what's shown in the video) is because the power plant is worn out, probably why they're replacing them in dry dock. The reason for this is because the Russians have little infrastructure to support the ship while docked. Where the American carriers shut down their reactors while in port because they get connected to shore power, the Russians don't have this luxury so the power plant had to keep running to supply electricity even while docked.

Sad to say that a tugboat is the MOST IMPORTANT VESSEL IN THE RUSSIAN NAVY...LMFAO 😂😂😂

That thing would be an artificial reef on the first day of a conflict with the US

I remember watching old WW2 films on a Sunday afternoon as a child. The destroyer captain always seemed to ask the engine room to 'make smoke'. I assume Soviet spies passed details of this technique back to their naval engineers but something got lost in the transmission and this ship didn't just have it as an option!

That thing is a bag of nails, like most ships in the Russian navy. Two ex work mates of mine served in the Soviet navy, they described their ships as terrifying rust buckets.

Another Russian boat ready to be on special underwater operations

Soviets: *build something expensive* Also Soviets: *immediately let it rust and fall apart*

First rule of the sea. Never rename a ship. It's bad luck.

We in the Netherlands had a aircraft carrier for some time, we bought it from the UK. It was a notorious black hole money pit and was more in repair then it was on sea. We sold it to Argentina and are still relieved it’s gone.

I feel like if Ukraine decided to attack and successfully destroy Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia would obviously condemn Ukraine while muttering "Phew, I'm glad that eyesore is gone".

It will be a miracle if this thing ever sails again in anything resembling a combat deployment. The Indians and Chinese figured out these carriers, but Russia never did. Should've left it in the capable hands of Ukraine.

Perhaps the Kusnetsov is a decoy and we really need to watch out for the tug!

It now comes complete with a matching set of ocean-going tugs to tow it everywhere.

Based on the video title I was hoping the video would go through its various armaments (it partially did) and why it is smoking so much (no mention).

When it sailed up the English Channel you could follow it from France and England just watching the smoke plume

Always a pleasure to learn from you. Thank you.

Didn't this carrier suffer a fire at some point? Secondly, I recall hearing the heat onboard (when not on fire) is limited and sailors are often quite cold.

Interesting is that the Admiral Kuznetsov is not the only Kiev-class aircraft carrier. The flagship of the Indian Navy the INS Vikramaditya and the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning are also more or less Kiev-classes. The funniest thing is that this two ships are functioning well, definetly better then the russian ship. The "Allmighty Russian Empire" is not capable to operate one aircraft carrier. But that not an exceptional case. The guided missile cruiser Moskva for example had dozends of broken systems a lot of them vital electronic systems for the ships defense. We all know the end of the story.

You could literally track the smoke trail from space, nothing sneaky about that rust bucket.

When operational, the Kuznetsov is accompanied by an escort of 5 or six small vessels, so does not have to rely entirely on its own weapons for defence.

Man, this documentary was really gentle on this ship.

Can't wait for the word "russian" to enter the vernacular as "inept, incompetent" for a person and "brittle, prone to failure, cheap or fake" for an object. They've earned it over the last 3 decades

Look at 8:27, folks. That's the captain on the flight deck. Fred Flintstonenovov.

The sad fact is that the Russian Federation does not have the docking facility and/or refuses to maintain it and is now a joke in navel circles..

That must have a huge heat signature for heat seeking weapons

I love the tacky casino chairs (10:23 and before) the Sailors sit in, were they on Weekly Special @ "Rusi Ralph's Furniture & Public Bath Emporium"?

The longest aircraft carrier, 1000 feet of sheet metal + 10000 feet of smoke

"let's build an aircraft carrier to support stealthy submarines with the dirtiest least efficient fuel we can get our hands on"

Ah yes, an aviation cruiser that can neither carry out air missions nor, in fact, cruise.

you forgot to mention that the aircraft carrier ship according to propaganda was supposed to have dozens of planes, but in fact only 4 were operational, the Russians landed these MIGs, repainted them with new numbers and took off again. This story has long been known.

I believe she also had many fires.

it is so sad that both Russian / Ukrainian are from the same ancestor the recent fallout created a lot of friction --- in fighting so on and so forth sad to see brother killing brothers

Meanwhile USA fields a FLEET of carriers

This "Heavy Aircraft-Carrying Cruiser" seems to be more of a Military Liability than a Military Asset. There's been a number of Videos that this Ship is a Floating Accident just waiting to happen.

This ship literally looks like it's running on coal

An aircraft carrier that can neither move under its own power nor carry aircraft is quite an asset - lucky for Ukraine that it was stolen. They spent the money instead on developing the weapons that caused Moskva to exist at a significantly sub-optimal depth.

Great work! Thank you ! !

Notice that during launch and landing the deck is entirely clear of personnel, unlike the bee hive activity of US carriers. Nothing to do topside, just the pilot and radio operator.

When i sailed in the Med the Russian fleet seemed like they were made up more of Fishing trawlers.......antennas galore so they must have had great comm.

"i say Tvarich, a Jet Fighter has just fell overboard" Tvarich, "again, ffs"

Is it good design to put a ski jump on the front? It seems like the host ship would give more force to the launched fighter if it were moving parallel to the launch direction.

You wont need radar to find this ship - follow the smoke or smell the burning chandlery is all that's required

I don't think the vessel itself is a failure. India has the exact type of carrier, and takes very good care of it. That thing even has a bakery on it.

"Plan to use her for another 10 to 15 years." Now, is that 10 to 15 consecutive years? Or would it be, and I think this is more likely, sail her for 3 or 4 years, then repairs for 2 to 4 years, then sail for 5 years, then dry dock for 5 years, fire, more repairs, sail for 10 months and then under tow for 41 days back to dry dock? You get the picture.

Interesting! I’m glad you didn’t call Ukraine “The Ukraine”. Thx

This is the world famous water leakage underwater submarine ❤❤❤😂😂😂🎉🎉🎉

The Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong is based on this ship. They seem to have worked some bugs out. Only 25 fixed wing aircraft but plenty of missiles and helos.

Its so great that it doesnt suffer long duration and discomfort to full fill its duty and easily performs it from the land so its a twin role carrier for both land and air lol

There is also a rumor that she was tied to a dock for a long time. The dock had no shore power, so some of the boilers had to be kept running 24X7. By the time they decided to move her, the boilers were all shot/in poor repair so that boiler replacement was also necessary in the next round of "improvements".

I've seen a lot of videos on this ship, but this particular one made me feel sorry for it! Kinda like a poor pet that is mistreated by its owners!

I feel like this is one those situations where you try and make something do everything and it winds up not being overly good at doing anything...

When the Soviet/Russian space station fell out of earth orbit in the early 2000's, a local (Minneapolis) newspaper columnist remarked that we didn't know, until then, that "Mir" was Russian for "jalopy". Apparently, not much has changed...

I think it would make for a great yacht conversion! I'll take it!

They say it is bad luck to rename a ship, and she was renamed 3 times. Guess it is true after all given her service so far.

Those are some funny looking helicopters 😂

Less than satisfactory. Wow that's an understatement!

It's not really a pure aircraft carrier. After the refit it will have a large missile inventory. Probably won't smoke as i understand it will have new engines.

russian engineering and construction at its finest

The concept is not without merit. But seems confused as to its role.

Please do a video about Laffey (Benson class destroyer DD-459)

Sounds like a good holiday destination.

I'm a bit mystified to know that this is missing so much, but at the same time I know how difficult it is to create a video that isn't too long. Unfortunately it's not easy to create something that will keep Your viewers completely engaged. This is one of those topics that You could've added an extra 7-10 minutes without losing Your core audience.

Yeah. No munitions on any of the Sukhois leaving the deck in the stock footage.. Which is an inherent problem of launching non-STOVL large fighters unassisted off a ski-jump. Your choices are fuel or munitions and considering you don't have AAR options available you have to start asking what's the point.

Hey Dark Seas, great video today. If I may ask, what music did you use in the video today?

My favorite aircraft carrier!

It always sounds like "cuts yer nuts off" to me, lol.

It is a shame this sorry vessel is named after such a noble admiral as Kuznetsov. He deserved better.

The “aircraft carrier” that comes with its own sea going tug boat.

Do a video on the floating carrier casino Minsk in China

This is the result from outsourcing your navy to Ikea.

That carrier travels with a vicious battle group or tug boats 😂

Another interesting video subject

This is what i like with the russians, how they refit and reuse everything.

The Russians haven't the foggiest idea how to do carrier air ops, not even after a century of watching other countries do it.

Renaming a ship is usually a bad omen. Renaming it 3 times is like admitting you just want it to sink on its own.

It sounds like the ship is so hopeless that it wouldn't even work as an artificial reef .....lol

This vessel is an absolute joke.

Great video. I heard today that they announced they are decommissioning the aircraft carrier for good?

*giggles in ten Nimitz class aircraft carriers and armed escorts

The problem with the ski jump carriers is that a lack of a catapult system severely limits the takeoff weight of the planes they launch. Take a look at all of the launches shown here. Not one of them shows an aircraft launching with any external stores or munitions

Don't forget that the British Royal Navy built 3 'Through Deck Cruisers' ... Invincible, Illustrious and Ark Royal.

Do they have that thing fired with coal? Got the gulag prisoners shoveling coal.

The Most Insanely Armed Incredibly Smoking Aircraft Carrier THAT ALMOST NEVER WORKS OVER IT'S DECADES OF EXISTENCE- A GREAT JOKE.

I get the feeling a lot of russian ships are cursed.

The ship is the current host body of an evil spirit that has cursed the Russian lands for over a thousand years . A noble Russian knight slew it's original body centuries ago. It's malignant spirit reappears when a new host body is ready. Before this current ship, it once inhabited the Kamchatka. Once again it has risen to curse the Russian people.

The opening few words of this video is more balanced than the title. It's a shame creators feel they need to play the algorithm.

When he said admiral's that name 😂 1:08

Well. A Russian aircraft carrier. Kind of like their submarines. They're Russian. It's a well known fact these days that they always HATED the fact that they lagged so far behind the United States. However, I experienced first hand how much better they eventually became a few short years before the Soviet Union collapsed.

I have logged hundreds of hours in DCS, flying the Su-33 from the Admiral-K, which probably means I have launched and trapped more by myself in simulation than the entire Russian Navy combined has actually done in real life... That being said, I now fly the F/A-18 from the US Super Carriers and understand first-hand how much of a difference it is... Russia will never be able to compete with the US in Naval power and so should just give up and accept that it's just playing pretend and should find a smaller bath-tub so it won't drown...