Hi,

 

The other day I was taking a look for no special reason at my old book "Kiev & Kuznetzov Russian Aircraft Carriers" by Barry Dean published in 1993 by Concord when I notice a strange radar in the bottom picture on page 28, it also appear on page 18 and on page 19 you can see its box plainly.

 

Well for those who don’t have the book the radar (I think its a guidance radar of some sort as it have a small round dish) is in a box between the rear SA-N-3 Shtorm and the AK-276 dual 76mm gun, the box has a lead the opens to starboard and stands on two supports and when opened the radar inside pops up, the radar is only visible in a couple of pictures taken probably at anchor in a port, it is a small radar with a round dish.

 

I linked the weapons with directors and found that none is missing its FC, I tried other pictures and data (in my not so big library and on the net) but found nothing about it, and I'm curious regarding warships (even if its one that's now a Hotel as it seems) so out of pure curiosity:

 

The author doesn’t say a word about it although he is very thorough in other pictures, anyone knows what that is ? A radar or something else ?

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Delfim

 

PS: I could post a picture of it but I'm a bit reticent about copyrights and stuff...

I love these little mysteries.

 

I can't seem to locate the object you're describing in any photos I'm looking at.

 

You say its on the starboard side? behind the SS-N-12 missile handling crane?

 

If you can find a photo that shows it, but you don't want to post it, just point us to the link and we'll go from there.

 

Can you find it anywhere in this album of photos of Minsk : Minsk World

 

[ Moved the thread here from Shore Leave ]

Its on the rear part of the ship not near the SS-N-12.

 

Well this is a part of the picture with the radar.

 

I have no intent of going againt any copyright.

 

 

And below is a view from the Minsk World showing the box with the closed lead right in front of the SA-N-3 Launcher.

 

 

Thanks again.

kiev.bmp

kiev2.bmp

Ah, I was at the wrong end of the ship.

 

It is pretty small (both the pic and the antenna).

 

My wild guess is something associated with aircraft control (though it seems pretty low on the superstructure) or a comms antenna or datalink of some kind.

Perhaps it's Bell Crown datalink, but that's only a guess by elimination of Bell Push and Bell Strike (I have not see photos of Bell Crown), and the text physical description matches.

Description in :

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l-Dzknm...ink&f=false

"Ship-ship datalink between second captains, probably mainly for radar data, tested 1973-1974. The antenna is in a small radome, which implies a directional link at microwave radar frequency. On board Kiev, Moskva, Kirov, Slava, Kara, Kresta II, Udaloy, Sovremennyy classes. This is a master-slave system, in which the slaves transmit their radar data to the flagship (the master), which replies with commands. The slaves do not share radar data among themshelves."

I would have thought that its rather noticeable position, and the fact that it appears stowable, would have made it the subject matter of at least some discussion, but I have found nothing.