Aviation Cruiser
E2. Naval, defence and maritime law enforcementDefinition
Hybrid combatant historically (e.g., Kiev class).
An aviation cruiser is a hybrid surface combatant carrying both a heavy missile/gun battery and a flight deck for fixed-wing or rotary aircraft, blurring the cruiser and aircraft-carrier categories. The Soviet Project 1143 Kiev class (commissioned from 1975) is the canonical example, designated tyazholyi avianesushchiy kreyser (heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser) so it could pass the Turkish Straits, which the 1936 Montreux Convention closes to carriers but opens to capital ships. It mixed P-500 Bazalt missiles forward with a Yak-38 and Ka-27 air group aft.
Source: Soviet Navy Project 1143 (Kiev class) designation under the 1936 Montreux Convention straits regime, Article 11 (capital ships).