OVERVIEW: The KARA class CG is a gas turbine-powered AAW/ASW cruiser.

DETAILS:   The KARA class CG was an enlarged version of the KRESTA class CG, and was intended to enhance the Soviet navy's ASW capability.  It was equipped with improved and enlarged command and control facilities. One vessel, the AZOV was constructed as a trials ship for the SA-N-6 missile system was  fitted with the associated Top Dome Radar. During the Cold War she was confined to the Black Sea.  One vessel, the KERCH, remains active with the Black Sea Fleet.  All other units were decomissioned between 1994-2011.  These ships are classified as destroyers by the Russian Navy.

NOTES: Displacement: 8,200 tons standard
       Speed: 34 knts
       Range: 3,000 nm @ 32 knts; 8,800 nm @ 15 knts
       Complement: 525 (approx.)
       In Commission: 1973-2019
       Completed: 7	  

SOURCES: Norman Polmar, "Guide to the Soviet Navy, 3rd ed. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1983), 137-38 ; "Large ASW Destroyer "Kerch" - Project 1134B / Kara class." Accessed November 17, 2013. http://flot.sevastopol.info/eng/ship/largeaswdestroyers/kerch.htm




