She served with the Northern Fleet for the duration of her career, often operating in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean in order to show the flag, and was refitted between 1983 and 1985.

Admiral Makarov was the fourth ship of her class of ten Project 1134A Berkut A (NATO reporting name Kresta II-class) cruisers, designed by Vasily Anikeyev.

[1][3] Admiral Makarov was propelled by two TV-12 steam geared turbines powered by four high pressure boilers which created 75,000 kilowatts (100,577 hp), giving her a maximum speed of 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph).

[4][1][6] As one of the first four ships in her class, Admiral Makarov used manual targeting for the AK-630 due to not having received the Vympel fire control radar.

She departed for Severomorsk on 28 March, but collided in fog with the Czech freighter Kladno in the Fehmarn Belt two days later; this forced her to return to the dockyard for repair.

During her cruise Admiral Makarov visited Havana and Cienfuegos between 24 and 29 September and Casablanca[7] between 2 and 6 December before returning to Severomorsk on 6 January 1975, completing a 24,829 nautical mile voyage.

[9] The ship was declared excellent in 1977 and the crew received thanks in an order from Gorshkov for "conscientious fulfillment of duties" in military and political training during 1976.

She was transferred to the 120th Missile Ship Brigade on 26 December of that year, and in September 1978 the cruiser monitored the NATO exercise Northern Wedding-78 in difficult weather conditions.

It then took part in the Razbeg-79 command staff exercise directed by Gorshkov between 5 and 12 April 1979 as part of a search and attack group with the aircraft carrier Kiev, sister Kresta-II class cruiser Marshal Timoshenko, missile destroyer Ognevoy, and destroyer Moskovsky Komsomolets, testing the effectiveness of the anti-submarine barrier by tracking a NATO submarine.

[8] After returning to the 170th Brigade on 12 February 1982, Admiral Makarov was repaired and modernized at the SRZ-35 shipyard in Murmansk from 23 March 1983 to 26 December 1985, temporarily part of the 48th Separate Battalion of Ships undergoing construction or overhaul.

The helicopter was flown back after both ships rendezvoused and the necessary fuel was transferred, although the crew responsible was suspended from flying for the rest of the cruise.