Russia's Super Battlecruiser Kirov vs. America's Stealth Destroyer Zumwalt: Who Wins?
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The ultimate battle for the world's oceans.
Kyle Mizokami [2]
In a battle between the two ships, which would prevail? Let’s assume place the two ships on the high seas at the maximum range of either side’s antiship weapons: 300 miles, the range of Kirov’s Granit missiles. Unlike previous scenarios, we’ll not assume that each ship knows where the other is, but that eventually, one will find the other. Kirov has the Legenda satellite system working for it, but Legenda is a radar satellite, and Zumwalt is a stealthy destroyer with the radar signature of a small fishing boat.
The recent decline in relations between Russia and the West has put ship-vs.-ship warfare back on the table. After more than a decade of supporting land wars in the Middle East and Central Asia, the U.S. Navy is reinvesting in the core mission of sinking ships. The U.S. Navy is expanding this capability but at the same time introducing a new class of ship, the guided missile destroyer USS Zumwalt, designed primarily to support land warfare.
Meanwhile in Russia, Moscow is still trying to squeeze life out of its Kirov-class battlecruisers. The gigantic surface ships, all nearly thirty years old, have aging but still generally effective armament, and are still capable of carrying out their primary mission: attacking very large enemy ships, especially aircraft carriers.
Source URL (retrieved on January 29, 2017):
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russias-super-battlecruiser-kirov-vs-americas-stealth-19211
