Pyotr Velikiy (Пётр Великий)
is the fourth Kirov class battlecruiser of the Russian Navy, originally
named Yuri Andropov (Юрий Андропов).
It is the flagship of the Northern Fleet.

Because of economic problems both before and after the fall of the Soviet Union,
work on her was severely postponed. Launch did not happen until 1996, ten years
after the construction started. She had now been renamed Pyotr Velikiy, Russian
for Peter the Great.

After completing her acceptance trials in November 1996, she was laid up at the
Northern Fleet headquarters at Severomorsk awaiting completion and repairs. After
they were completed, Pyotr Velikiy went on to become the flagship of the Northern
Fleet.

In August 2000 Pyotr Velikiy was in the Barents Sea involved in the largest naval
training exercise since the fall of the Soviet Union. She was to be the designated
target of the Oscar-II class submarine K-141 Kursk, and was conducting evasive
maneuvers when communication with Kursk was lost, the submarine apparently
having suffered a catastrophic torpedo detonation with all hands lost. Pyotr
Velikiy guarded the area where the submarine sank during the subsequent
salvage operation in 2001.

Wikipidia : In March, 2004, Russian Navy chief Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov
declared the Pyotr Velikiy unfit for service due to problems with the ship's
engineering maintenance. [1] On April 19, 2004, she was docked in the floating
drydock PD-50 for painting of the underside of the hull, repairs and examination
of the steering system. The repairs were completed later that year, and she was
carrying out missions again by August.

On September 8, 2008, it was announced that the Pyotr Velikiy would sail to the
Caribbean Sea in order to participate in naval exercises with the Venezuelan Navy,
along with the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and other support ships. This action
would represent the first major Russian show of force in that sea since the end
of the Cold War.

On January 11, 2008, the chief of the Russian General Staff announced that the
Pyotr Velikiy and six other russian warships would participate in a joint naval
exercise with the Indian navy later the same month