Originally designed for the Soviet Navy, the Kuznetsov-class ships use a ski-jump for launching high-performance jet aircraft and arrestor gears for landing.

The design represented a major advance in Soviet fleet aviation over the Kiev-class carriers, which do not have full-length flight deck and could only launch VSTOL aircraft.

The Soviet Union's classification for the class was as a heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser, which permits the ships to transit the Turkish Straits without violating the Montreux Convention.

Two ships were originally laid down at the Nikolayev South Shipyard in the Ukrainian SSR, to be followed by the first of the Ulyanovsk-class nuclear-powered supercarriers.

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.

The Russian naval system classifies its Kuznetsov-class ship as a heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser because it was fitted with long-range anti-ship cruise missiles.

[5] Turkey has allowed Admiral Kuznetsov to pass through the Straits, and no other signatory to the Montreux Convention has objected to its designation as an aircraft cruiser.

[7] 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.

[8] In October 1978 the Soviet government decided to continue the production of additional Project 1143 (Kiev-class) aircraft carriers, with the fifth vessel built with improved features like catapults and arresting gear.

As originally planned, Project 1143.5 was to have a full load displacement of 65,000 tons, CATOBAR capability, and an air wing based around fixed-wing aircraft and Kamov helicopters.

[9] However, by 1980 Soviet defense minister Dmitry Ustinov ordered the deletion of the catapults, reduction of the ship's displacement by 10,000 tons, and revision of the air component toward VSTOL aircraft.

Kuznetsov carried twelve launchers for P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) anti-ship surface-to-surface missiles, which also form the main armament of the Kirov-class battlecruisers.

The Granits were stored in 12 vertical launchers located beneath the ship's front deck, just before the inclined ski-jump.

The vessel's steam turbines and turbo-pressurised boilers have been reported to be so unreliable that the carrier is accompanied by a large ocean-going tug whenever it deploys, in case it breaks down.

Most recently, Admiral Kuznetsov was deployed to the Mediterranean in late 2016 and early 2017 to support Russian operations in Syria.

Admiral Kuznetsov started an overhaul and modernization program in the first quarter of 2017 to extend its service life by 25 years,[23] but several setbacks have hampered this effort.

In 1998, the unfinished hull was sold by Ukraine to what was apparently a Chinese travel agency for ostensible use as a floating hotel and casino.