 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.Only the lead ship had been commissioned when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, and the ship now serves in the Russian Navy.Construction of her sister ship "Varyag" was abandoned until 1998, when an independent Ukraine sold the uncompleted ship to China for use as a floating casino, along with a complete set of blueprints.