Chronic technical problems and operational inefficiencies have made Admiral Kuznetsov a wider symbol of the challenges faced by the Russian Navy. Whereas the United States mastered the practice of aircraft carrier operations during and immediately after the Second World War, Russia’s reliance on land-based military force means serious carrier development did not start until the 1980s.
Commissioned in the last days of the Soviet Union, Kuznetsov has serious technical drawbacks. The ship runs on Mazut’s heavy, tar-like fuel, highly outmoded and perverse. Mazut requires complicated preheating and pressurization of tanks before going into operation, which prompts frequent failures of the engines, not to mention permanent spills of black smoke. That led to several embarrassing incidents when, for example, the carrier was being tugged by a tugboat over more than 2,700 miles. Also, the Kuznetsov has many technical disadvantages.
Whereas modern aircraft carriers use either steam or electromagnetic catapults, the Kuznetsov relies on a ski jump ramp to launch aircraft. Such systems require lighter aircraft with less weaponry, which reduces the fighting power of the carrier. In addition, low quality is characteristic of every part of this ship’s infrastructure, from the installation of poor-quality pipes that reduce efficiency in transferring pressurized Mazut to the engines. As a result, frequent maintenance problems have been felt and the vessel is forced to travel very often with a tug escort. It has nevertheless persisted, continuing to invest in Kuznetsov to date as a way of maintaining a semblance of naval capability.
The Kremlin is concerned that its navy faces a capability gap, and eventually, possibly even Russia will cooperate on carrier programs destined to counter the United States. Yet, in every measure, modern nuclear-powered aircraft carriers drastically contrast the Kuznetsov reminder of why the industry migrated away from fuels such as Mazut. Of all the carrier’s emissions, however, its black smoke is the most notorious. The smoke is probably a product of incorrect calibration in the preheating or injection mechanisms which results in only partially burned Mazut being expelled into the atmosphere. Russian officials have minimized the problem, and Admiral Ivan Vasilyev reported that the smoke was intentionally produced to signal the presence of Russia, according to some sort of dubious maritime tradition.
The decision to develop a Mazut-burning aircraft carrier during the 1980s, despite nuclear and gas turbine alternatives being available, is frankly bewildering. The U.S. aircraft carriers commissioned in that timeframe utilized nuclear power exclusively, and as such never exhibited the boiler problems or black smoke that Kuznetsov developed.
All in all, Admiral Kuznetsov represents the remains of shattered dreams, lost hope, and living testimony to dire challenges taken up by the Russian Navy to keep it flying as a viable aircraft carrier. Though serving to mark Russia’s naval ambitions, it brings forth distinct gaps in capability and technology as against modern carriers.