The preferred label is "super cruiser," or simply cruiser, because size must be judged against contemporary capital ships rather than First World War battlecruisers. The Alaska class was larger than Kirov and operated in an era of much heavier battleships, yet Alaska still fits the cruiser category in this interpretation. Kirov's missile power and futuristic appearance do not by themselves make it a battlecruiser. The end of the old 10,000-ton cruiser limit also removed the treaty-era benchmark that otherwise makes unusually large cruisers look like displaced capital ships.
Chapter · 43:10-45:32
Why Kirov is a super cruiser, not a battlecruiser
An Alaska-class comparison supports classifying Kirov as a very large cruiser rather than reviving the battlecruiser label.