Soviet aircraft carrier Minsk

Minsk in 1983
History
Russia
NameMinsk
NamesakeCity of Minsk
BuilderChernomorskiy yard, Mykolayiv
Laid down28 December 1972
Launched30 September 1975
Commissioned27 September 1978
Decommissioned30 June 1993
StatusSold to China in 1995; sold again and placed in Naval museum in Jiangsu, China since 2016. Severely damaged by fire on 16 August 2024
General characteristics
Class & typeKiev-class aircraft cruiser
Displacement
  • 30,535 tons (standard)
  • 41,380 tons (loaded)
Length273 m (896 ft) overall
Beam
  • 49.2 m (161 ft) o/a
  • 31 m (102 ft) w/l
Draught8.94 m (29.3 ft)
Propulsion4 shaft geared steam turbines, 140,000 shp
Speed32 knots (59 km/h)
Endurance13,500 nautical miles (25,000 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
Armament
  • 4 × twin SS-N-12 Sandbox SSM launchers (8 missiles)
  • 2 × twin SA-N-3 Shtorm SAM launchers (72 missiles)
  • 2 × twin SA-N-4 Gecko SAM launchers (40 missiles)
  • 2 × twin 76 mm guns
  • 8 × AK-630 30 mm CIWS
  • 10 × 533 mm torpedo tubes
  • 1 × twin SUW-N-1 ASW rocket launcher (16 nuclear-tipped rockets)
  • 2 × RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launchers
Aircraft carried

Minsk (Russian: Минск) is an aircraft carrier (heavy aircraft cruiser in Russian classification) that served the Soviet Navy and the Russian Navy from 1978 to 1994. She was the second Kiev-class vessel to be built.

From 2000 to 2016 she was a theme park known as Minsk World in Shatoujiao, Yantian, Shenzhen, China.

In April 2016, Minsk was towed to Jiangsu for exhibition. On 16 August 2024, she was burnt in a fire in Nantong, Jiangsu province.