The names of specific naval vessels often appear in various press reports, without any reference to their class or type. This, while understandable, can be mildly annoying. For easy reference, I have compiled a partial list of known Russian ship names in alphabetical order, along with their type, class, and commission date. For the most part, I have used only the current name; for instance, "Kirov" does not appear, while "Admiral Ushakov" does. Please note that this is primarily intended to be a table of common ship names, and although some ship-specific information appears here, it is by no means intended to be a complete accounting of the Russian fleet. For more complete information on unit disposition, I recommend the latest edition of Pavlov. The English edition (which trails the Russian somewhat) should be available through the Naval Institute Press.

Sources: Jane's Fighting Ships; A.D. Baker III, Combat Fleets of the World 2000-2001 (2000); A.S. Pavlov, Warships of the USSR and Russia 1945-1995, English language ed. (1997); Norman Polmar, Guide to the Soviet Navy, 5th ed. (1991); and press reports collected from various sources. Special thanks to Thomas Nilsen of the Bellona Foundation for his information on Northern Fleet Oscars, and to Robert Burns for his corrections to the Nanuchkas, his pointers to open source Russian military news, and general advice and comments.

Compiled and maintained by Robin J. Lee (amraam@ix.netcom.com). All errors mine.

Revision note, August 18, 2001:  This is a pre-release revision; minor editing is still in progress.  At this stage the table should more or less reflect the vast number of ships that exited the Russian naval inventory through the last decade, but there are probably still holes here and there (and I would expect that many of the units marked "active" are for practical purposes out of service).  The impression that I have is that most fleet activity remains centered around a handful of key units, notably Burnyy, Admiral Panteleyev, and Admiral Vinogradov in the Pacific Fleet, and Neustrashimy and Petr Velikiy in the Baltic and Northern Fleets, respectively.  Naturally, submarine activity is harder to gauge from open sources, but K 407 seems to have become this year's premier exercise missile-shooter; presumably a certain number of Delta IVs also continue to deploy on deterrence patrols.  In addition, the long-delayed Gepard (Akula II) looks like it might finally join the fleet this summer, but none of the next-generation nuclear submarine programs are going anywhere.  

Revision note, June 14, 2003:  Added some updates to the table, mostly details on the current status of vessels already listed.

KEY

 

Aviation ship	Fixed-wing aircraft carriers and helicopter carriers
Major surface combatant	Surface combatants displacing in excess of 1,000 tons (cruisers, destroyers, frigates)
Small combatant	Surface combatants displacing less than 1,000 tons (corvettes, guided missile patrol combatants)
Amphibious ship	As described
Nuclear submarine	Nuclear attack submarines, nuclear strategic ballistic missile submarines
Conventional submarine	Diesel-electric attack submarines, conventional strategic ballistic missile submarines
Auxiliary	As described
Out of commission/inactive	Grayed-out type/commission/notes entries indicate inactive unit

Type is noted in NATO standard designation and class-name. When it is known, the sequential number of the vessel in the class is added, noted as "-#". For instance, "BCGN Kirov-2" indicates the second vessel in the Kirov class of nuclear-powered battlecruisers.

Commissioning dates should be approached with caution; Russian practice does not necessarily comport with Western practice, and the dates indicated may variously represent launch, completion, or commissioning dates. Similarly, decommissioning dates may represent formal decommissioning or date stricken.