Vice-Admiral Kulakov was commissioned in December 1981 and was in service with the Soviet
Northern Fleet until March 1991, when she was retired for repairs that lasted more than 18 years. The ship travelled to
Severomorsk base on 7 December 2010 in preparation for the vessel's return to active duty. On 5 January 2011, a fire broke out in one of the ship's mess-rooms. It was reported to be caused by a short circuit. The damage was minimal and did not reduce the combat effectiveness of the ship. On 3 September 2011 the destroyer conducted the first underway landings tests for the new
Ka-52K helicopter. In 2012 the destroyer escorted commercial convoys as part of the
anti-piracy mission in the
Gulf of Aden. In July 2012,
Vice-Admiral Kulakov led a
flotilla of the Northern Fleet to the Eastern Mediterranean to conduct
naval drills, close to the Syrian coast. In August 2012 she paid a five-day visit to
Portsmouth Naval Base, England. In September 2012
Vice-Admiral Kulakov visited
Cobh, Ireland.
Vice-Admiral Kulakov was part of the 70th anniversary commemorations of the
Battle of the Atlantic in
Liverpool, England in May 2013. In April 2014, a British destroyer, , was deployed to waters north of
Scotland to track
Vice-Admiral Kulakov as the destroyer sailed near the United Kingdom amid heightened tensions between Russia and the UK. In 2016, she was sent to the eastern Mediterranean, to back the air campaign in Syria and fly the flag In March 2016, as she and supporting Russian ships entered the United Kingdom's
exclusive economic zone, they were intercepted and escorted by the British
frigate . In 2020, it was reported that she would be upgraded to the standard of the recently refitted
Marshal Shaposhnikov. On 8 June 2020,
Vice-Admiral Kulakov entered the Barents Sea to conduct anti-submarine exercises. Afterwards, she sailed to
Kronstadt to participate in the Navy day parade on 26 July. Accompanied by tanker
Akademik Pashin and tug
Altay, she then entered the Mediterranean Sea and paid several port visits. Between 11 and 13 August she visited
Algeria, between 30 August–2 September
Cyprus, between 19 and 22 October Greece and on 1 November Syria. The ship detachment was commanded by the Chief of staff of the brigade of anti-submarine ships of the Northern Fleet
Captain 1st rank Stanislav Varik. On her way to the homeport, the ship passed Pas-de-Calais on 14 November, entered the Barents Sea on 8 December and returned to homeport Severomorsk on 10 December, where the ship detachment was greeted by the commander of the Northern Fleet
Aleksandr Moiseyev. In 2021,
Vice-Admiral Kulakov was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea and, afterwards, the
Gulf of Guinea along with tanker
Akademik Pashin and tug
Altay, where on 25 October, the destroyer freed the container ship
Lucia sailing under Panamanian flag from
Togo to
Cameroon that came under attack of pirates. On the way back, the destroyer monitored large-scale NATO naval exercise in the Norwegian Sea with two Norwegian frigates, four corvettes, two submarines and other ships, as well as a German, French, Danish and Portuguese frigate. On 7 February 2022, as part of a
concentration of Russian naval forces in the Mediterranean,
Vice-Admiral Kulakov again deployed to the Mediterranean, along with the cruiser
Marshal Ustinov, frigate and tanker
Vyazma. The destroyer departed the Mediterranean on 24 August 2022 ostensibly destined for its home base Severomorsk. On deployment in the Baltic as of 2025, the destroyer was reported to have fended off a drone attack. Did pass Great Belt Bridge, Denmark, nordbound 16 december 2025. == References ==