United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) general manager Alexei Rakhmanov said that the only aircraft carrier in the Russian Navy, Admiral Kuznetsov, is docking at the 35th factory near Murmansk for repairs and modernization.
“The docking operation for Kuznetsov has been successfully completed,” Rakhmanov said.
This was scheduled for May 14-15.
“However, a strong wind rose up to 17 meters per second, so we decided to delay the operation until more favorable weather conditions,” said the USC president.
The last contract for the repair of “Admiral Kuznetsov” included the repair of only one gas turbine unit, later it turned out that all four had to be removed and repaired, and this is still a total of 10-11 months of work. The ship will not leave the pier until 2023 unless other defects are discovered.
The difficult fate of “Kuznetsov”
“Admiral Kuznetsov” is the only aircraft carrier of the Russian Navy, the flagship of the Navy and the Northern Fleet. The maximum speed of the ship is 54 kilometers per hour, and its dimensions are equal to three football fields. The aircraft carrier entered service in 1991 and has since been repaired at least seven times. In total, the process took about 13.5 years.
The ship first saw operations in Syria in 2016-2017. The approximate cost of the cruiser’s actions in Syria is at least 7.5 billion RUBIt is calculated in RBC.
The ship, which was repaired on the ship after the operation in Syria, has not ended yet.
Kommersant “Admiral Kuznetsov” was transferred to USC in April 2018 – specialists were instructed to completely modernize the ship’s power systems and weapons under a contract worth about 60-65 billion rubles. The same contract also provided for the reconstruction of the dry dock for repairs, for which 23 billion rubles will be spent.
In October 2018, an accident occurred: the floating dock PD-50, on which Kuznetsov was located, suddenly went under water, as a result of which a crane fell on the ship and damaged part of the deck.
After that, Admiral Kuznetsov was transferred to the 35th shipyard, but in December 2019 a fire broke out on the ship. The ship caught fire when a spark from the source entered the hold with spilled fuel. The fire killed two sailors. More than 10 people were injured. In April 2020, USC estimated damage from the fire at 500 million rubles.
Additionally, USC had to terminate its contract with a company that was building a new dry dock for an aircraft carrier at a facility in Murmansk. The work progressed ten times slower than what was written in the contract. In addition, the contractor failed to report on the advance payment of 2.6 billion rubles. The factory manager, who was supposed to help the aircraft carrier return to service, is under investigation for embezzling tens of millions of rubles.
In June 2020, RIA Novosti, citing the public procurement portal, reported that the repair of the aircraft carrier will require more than 251 million rubles.
“Gift to NATO”
In 2019, US Naval Institute expert Richard Moss wrote that instead of repairing an aircraft carrier, Russia should start building Project 885 Yasen nuclear submarines or small missile boats.
“Russia will provide NATO and the Navy [Военно-морским силам] “It would be a great blessing if the United States decides to spend the money, time and human capital needed to overhaul an aircraft carrier, which is clearly a burden of the Cold War era,” he said.
He believes that the restoration of Admiral Kuznetsov was not caused by the real needs of the Russian army, but a matter of national prestige.
The expert drew attention to the inefficient use of the ship, which required frequent and expensive repairs due to problems with the propulsion system, hull and holder. That’s why the aircraft carrier was ranked among the five worst ships in its class in the history of the world fleet, according to The National Interest.
Source: Gazeta
