By David Prior, 14 March 2026
Does an article by H.I. Sutton, “Russia’s overspend on old battlecruiser,” published by the Australian Naval Institute in February, have relevance for Canada? Sutton talks about Russia’s project to modernize Admiral Nakhimov, a Kirov-class battle cruiser that was built in the Soviet Union, and put on ice in the 1990s. Starting in 2015 the ship was modernized over a decade, at great expense. Hutton argues that it is now a ship that is good to create the perception of strength in peace, but not terribly useful in war time. (see https://navalinstitute.com.au/russias-overspend-on-old-battlecruiser/). (See also a YouTube video produced by The Military Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pgd4bsHSko) Naval warfare has changed -- Ukraine has managed to inflict serious damage on the Russian Black Sea Fleet, even without a navy. Nakhimov is not a match for cheap but effective drones.
What is the relevance here? Will the Polar Class 2 amphibious icebreaker being considered by the Royal Canadian Navy be the Canadian version of Admiral Nakhimov? It would certainly be a beautiful target, ready and waiting to be overwhelmed by a swarm of 500 drones – aerial, surface or sub-surface (UAV, USV, UUV) -- loitering and otherwise, removing bridge windows and interiors, exterior electronics, weapons, etc. Ukraine now has quadcopter drones fibre-optic-controlled with a range of 80 km. That number will likely double soon. The limiting factor is the amount of fibre-optic cable a drone can carry. On a ship, in addition to defending against them, the question could be how many drones the ship could accommodate and how to launch them in swarms.
I argue that what would be more useful for Canada than the possible amphibious icebreakers is polar multi-functional security vessels (PMSVs) which are ice-hardened where necessary with Duplex stainless steel, can serve as drone motherships, and are able to carry, service and quickly launch very large numbers of all three of the above drone versions. I was thinking about how to launch a swarm of them. The PMSV design has a drone ‘airport’ above and forward of the aft helipad which would be good for launching large drones and drones with wings. The forward helipad could likely support 100 vertical launch tubes containing stacks of 5 quadcopter drones, stacked like dinner plates, an entire stack pushed up from the bottom to launch the next one. In this way a flight of 100 fibre-optic drones could lift off together, in a regulated way, and fly away. This process is easily automated. When the last layer of drones is gone, lower the ‘elevator’ and reload another stack by hand. Automation could coordinate the flight up unless an operator intervenes to direct its final approach. Otherwise, AI and visual recognition programming may suffice to drive it home. The caps on the vertical tubes can be built to form a helicopter-friendly surface.
The unique design of the PMSV allows the integration of ‘silos.’ With computer software ‘driving’ all the drones, the first layer of drones (100 units) could fly toward their destination without entanglement. The 100 drones, 10 rows across and 10 deep, would go airborne in 5 waves, always peeling each layer of drones off the front and 2 sides, like peeling an onion. No cross-overs:
Wave One 28 drones
Wave Two 24
Wave Three 20
Wave Four 16
Wave Five 12
Each wave could be airborne in less than 10 seconds.
Five layers (500 drones) could be airborne in 5 minutes plus the time it takes for previous fibre-optic cables to fall to the ground. Probably 10-15 minutes in total to send off 500 FPV drones. Some of the drones in the swarm could be defence drones protecting the swarm from anti-drone efforts, perhaps assisting the swarm defence weapons on the PMSV to target incoming threats to the swarm.
It’s something to consider – and perhaps Canada can avoid an Admiral Nakhimov moment.
For more information, see these sources:
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.7028592
https://www.navalreview.ca/2026/01/rcn-polar-class-2-amphibious-icebreaker/
https://www.navalreview.ca/2022/12/the-case-for-a-polar-multifunctional-security-vessel/
Image: A starboard bow view of the Soviet Kirov class nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser KALININ, now named ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV. Credit: US Navy
