Editing Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier (section)

==Role==
The ''Kuznetsov''-class ships were described by their Soviet builders as ''Tyazholiy Avianesushchiy Kreyser'' (TAKR or TAVKR) – "heavy [[Aircraft cruiser|aircraft-carrying cruiser]]" – intended to support and defend strategic missile-carrying submarines, surface ships, and maritime missile-carrying aircraft of the Soviet fleet. In its fleet defense role, ''Admiral Kuznetsov''{{'}}s [[P-700 Granit]] (SS-N-19 [[NATO reporting name]]: ''Shipwreck'') anti-ship cruise missiles, [[Tor missile system#3K95 Kinzhal (naval variant)|3K95 Kinzhal]] (''Gauntlet'') surface-to-air missiles, and [[Su-33]] (''Flanker-D'') aircraft are its main weapons. The fixed-wing aircraft on ''Kuznetsov'' are intended for [[air superiority]] operations to protect a deployed task force. The carrier also carries numerous helicopters for [[anti-submarine warfare]] (ASW) and search and rescue (SAR) operations.

===Transiting the Turkish Straits===
{{See also|Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits#Aircraft carriers}}
The Russian naval system classifies its ''Kuznetsov''-class ship as a heavy [[aircraft cruiser|aircraft-carrying cruiser]] because it was fitted with long-range anti-ship cruise missiles. Under the 1936 [[Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits|Montreux Convention]], aircraft carriers heavier than 15,000 tons may not pass through the [[Turkish Straits]]. Since ''Kuznetsov'' exceeds the [[Displacement (ship)|displacement]] limit, it would have been confined to the [[Black Sea]] if it had been classified as an aircraft carrier. However, there is no tonnage restriction on other [[capital ship]]s operated by [[Black Sea]] Powers.<ref name="miller1990">{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=David V. | last2=Hine | first2=Jonathan T. Jr. |title=Soviet Carriers in the Turkish Straits |date=31 January 1990 |publisher=Naval War College |location=Newport, Rhode Island |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a219829.pdf |access-date=14 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114231831/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a219829.pdf |archive-date=14 November 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> Turkey has allowed {{ship|Russian aircraft carrier| Admiral Kuznetsov||2}} to pass through the Straits, and no other signatory to the Montreux Convention has objected to its designation as an [[aircraft cruiser]].<ref>{{cite web |first=John |last=Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/naval-arms-control-1936.htm |title=Montreux Convention 1936 |website=Globalsecurity.org |access-date=20 July 2013}}</ref>

The Chinese Navy regards its Type 001 ships as aircraft carriers.<ref name="mod2015">
{{cite news
 |last1=Tao |first1=Zhang
 |title=Captain delegation of U.S. Navy visits Chinese Liaoning aircraft carrier
 |url=http://eng.mod.gov.cn/Photos/2015-10/20/content_4625081.htm
 |work=Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China
 |date=20 October 2015 |access-date=14 November 2016
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204161821/http://eng.mod.gov.cn/Photos/2015-10/20/content_4625081.htm
 |archive-date=4 December 2016 |url-status=live}}
</ref>
The Chinese aircraft carrier ''Liaoning'' is armed with air-defense weapons, but it is not equipped with the anti-ship or anti-submarine missiles that are on ''Admiral Kuznetsov''. Instead, the hangar bay was extended to carry more aircraft.<ref name="sinodefence"/>