Russian aircraft carrier crew repurposed for desperate ground battle

According to the UK Defence Journal, the crew of the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov was reorganised into a mechanised battalion. This unit initially fought in the region north of Kharkiv and is now, according to the Ukrainians, expected to move to the Pokrovsk region.

Information about the formation of the infantry battalion from Kuznetsov sailors emerged as families began sharing information on Vkontakte during the search for soldiers from unit 78987.

This topic gained publicity following the disappearance of Oleg Sosedov, a sailor from Kuznetsov, who went missing during the Russian operation in the Kharkiv region in July. Sosedov, associated with the battalion, was last seen during the assault on the border village of Sotnytskii Kozachok.

Forming infantry battalions from the intellectual elite of the armed forces, including the navy besides the air force, is a sign of Russian desperation, reminiscent of the actions of the Third Reich at the end of the Second World War.

The education and training of warship crews take years and require enormous investments, and wasting such personnel in frontal assaults, not unreasonably referred to as "meat assaults," is a sign of desperation.

This indicates a lack of personnel reserves, and losses are being covered by almost any available resources, similar to the final months of the Third Reich when Kriegsmarine sailors were formed into infantry.

The aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, built in Ukraine during the Soviet Union era, is the only aircraft carrier in the Russian fleet. Its length is about 300 metres, width 70 metres, and the draft reaches 10 metres.

As journalist Łukasz Michalik from Wirtualna Polska wrote, Kuznetsov is equipped with a ski-jump type launch ramp. This significantly facilitated the construction of the vessel but at the cost of limiting the capabilities of the onboard aircraft, which must take off either under-armed or with limited fuel reserves.

This problem does not occur with aircraft carriers equipped with catapults, which until recently required a steam source or power for newer electromagnetic catapults.

In theory, Kuznetsov's air group can include nearly 60 Su-33 or MiG-29K aircraft, but in practice, due to costs, the Russians maintained at most a dozen or so aircraft. Furthermore, the Russians cannot conduct pilot training for aircraft carrier landings because the only range with a moving runway simulating an aircraft carrier deck is located at the Saki base in Crimea, which is regularly shelled by Ukrainians.

Additionally, in typical fashion, the Russians equipped Kuznetsov with twelve P-700 Granit anti-ship missile launchers. These missiles have a range of 630 kilometres and move at a supersonic speed of over Mach 2.5 (3050 km/h). Each missile contains a warhead of 750 kilogrammes and a conventional or thermonuclear charge of 500 kT.

On the other hand, the last-resort defence consists of 3M87 Kashtan artillery-missile systems and six-barrel automatic AK-630 guns, which, however, did not save 'Moscow' from sinking.

After being commissioned, the vessel was plagued by a series of failures before being sent for repairs in 2017. It is worth noting that in recent years, Kuznetsov was always escorted by a tug ready to intervene in case of problems.

The problems, however, did not end, as in 2018 a crane fell on the ship during repairs, also damaging the only dry dock capable of fitting Kuznetsov, and a year later, a fire broke out on the ship. The fire situation repeated in 2022, and theoretically, repairs were supposed to be completed by 2024.

However, considering the reformation of its crew into an infantry battalion participating in "meat assaults,” a return to service for this ship in this decade is rather unlikely.