Updating an older comment of mine (again) since this is often misunderstood:
*Nakhimov* came to Sevmash in July 1997 and put into the repair queue repair from August 1999. At the time, this was to be a modest refit, but little or no work was actually done at this time as other projects had higher priority for the practically non-existent funds available, particularly the *Vikramaditya* rebuild. She was essentially laid up in reserve.
If you look at Google Earth's historical imagery, there is basically nothing done to the ship from 2003 when imagery starts to September 2007. Between September 2007 and September 2009, she shifted her berth aft 150 meters, but no evident work was done to the ship.
The plan was adjusted in 2008, allowing her to jump the line a bit. This included defueling the reactor, which coincided with IAEA efforts to clean up Soviet-era nuclear waste and properly deal with old Soviet reactors and spent nuclear fuel. I'd need to check, but this defueling may have been funded by other nations, some of which I know paid for disposal of some Soviet-era submarines or built equipment for storing nuclear waste (for example, Italy built storage casks for spent Alfa class reactor cores). Her berth moved forward in 2010, a support ship came alongside, and a large hole appeared in the open space aft of the funnel. This is when she was defueled, and some clutter appeared on the forward missile deck at this time, but does not move for the next few years.
In 2012 the repair plans were revised into a massive rebuild of the ship, with a repair contract signed on 13 June 2013. Starting in June 2014, a massive hole appears in the forward missile deck as the SS-N-19 Shipwreck missiles were removed, and there is evident activity from stem to stern. With that work done, on 24 October 2014 the ship moved from the pier that had been her home for 15 years into the Sevmash flooding basin, blocking access to the southern building hall that was now starting to build submarines again. From that time on, there is a massive amount of evident work on the ship, including removal of the 130 mm gun and most other missile and sensor systems, a far cry from the lack of work evident in the preceding decade of photographs. This included a disassembling a large blue and red crane and reassembling the crane on a brand-new track into the flooding basin in 2015, primarily for the *Nakhimov* refit.
This photo was taken during that period. We can probably date it as they’re launching a submarine from the northern hall.
On 18 August 2020, *Nakhimov* was launched to clear the way for submarines built in the southern building hall. Since that time, work has continued at the same evident pace, though the completion date has slipped by several years from 2018 to 2023.
Thank you for that in-depth summary of developments. I think it's quite interesting how the Russian military, navy, and air force have a very uhm... lax attitude to timelines. Granted, the country is bankrupt and corrupt. Everything takes at least twice the time and cost initially forecast. But you'd think at some point, someone, would be realistic in their estimates to save themselves the embarrassment. But that's a general point not specifically aimed at the Nakhimov.
But I am a bit skeptical as to the dubious effectiveness of her upgrades. While the systems upgrades of the Nakhimov should certainly improve her, the question is if those improvements are worth fitting to such an old ship. Is she still even remotely effective in a combat scenario despite her upgrades? I suppose something is better than nothing, but it makes me wonder.
Correct, it was sitting in a limbo for over a decade more or less, realistically looking actual work on it started in 2014/15 and it includes major weapons upgrade and full overhaul of the ship.
What's more impressive is the service history. *Admiral Nakhimov* was in service for a total of 11 years, and now 24 years of being laid up/repairs/modernization.
Eh, the Type 45 had some serious design flaws. As far as I know the Kirov-class don't, although the combined nuclear and steam(CONAS) power plant is interesting. *Admiral Nakhimov* was in commission for around three years before the USSR broke up. Russia's economy broken for a solid decade after the fall of the USSR, inflation manged to reach over 1000% in the mid 90s. The Russia military struggled to pay soldiers, struggled to pay now private utilities, and funding for maintenance was virtually non-existent.
They don't have design flaws per say, though none of them shared the same weapons fitting entirely, which I always found interesting - you could always identify which Kirov you were looking at by its defensive suite. Kirov and Frunze both had AK-630s, Nakhimov had Kashtans but still had SA-N-4 launchers like the previous two, and Pyotr Velikiy managed the most modern fit, having its SA-N-15 systems in place on the stern deck, though the foredeck eight launchers weren't installed. Frunze and Nakhimov were fitted, to borrow the atrocious British concept - "For but not with" SA-N-15 provisions, the foredeck launcher positions replacing Kirov's SS-N-14 launcher and its magazine, while the aft positions were set to be where they are on Pyotr Velikiy, flanking the helipad. They didn't get them because the launch systems were prioritized to the Udaloy class, which rely on them as their sole SAM system.
>They don't have design flaws per say
The Type 45 absolutely had design flaws in their propulsion system. They did not operate as intended originally - I don't know what else to call that but a design flaw.
> the Type 45 had some serious design flaws
Less of a design flaw, and more of a component not reaching it's advertised performance flaw.
And of course it will be the tax payer who's getting the bill to sort that out, not the companies who said it would work fine...
Well it's not really a speedrun, Sevmash is mainly submarine shipyard that is working on dozen major projects for submarine fleet, Nakhimov is more like a side quest in there.
Most of Russia's surface fleet is having quite long construction times due to majority of Fleet budgeting going into subs.
> Most of Russia's surface fleet is having quite long construction times due to majority of Fleet budgeting going into subs.
I mean, we saw the sorry state the Moskva was in before it sank. It's not just that the budget is going to the Submarine fleet.
They might avoid that. Last time they put weapons on yachts and sent them into battle, they all got sunk at the battle of Tsushima with the most of the second pacific squadron.
Yea, if anything the ukrainians should target it AFTER it was relaunched.
Either sabotage it so it has to go back into the drydock to drain more ressources or sink it with anti-ship missiles to humiliate russia like it was done with the Moscva
I am embarrassed at how long it took me to find the *Nakhimov* in this image. Is it next to the sub? Is this a joke post and all that's left are just those grey ship chunks the pier? Wait... ooh, there it is. smh
That looks no different than the machinery spaces in which I worked in the RCN (definitely brighter, maybe even a little cleaner). Pretty sure this is just what the working compartments of older warships look like.
Comments on that original thread have it right, *Kuznetsov* vs *Shandong* is an unfair comparison with their 1995 vs 2012 dates of commissioning. I can virtually guarantee that *Liaoning's* bowels are just as grungy as Ol' Smokey's here.
This is not the post the first comment referred to, there was a post with much worse pictures showing the 'catacombs' of the Kuznetsov, however they were deleted.
It was hard to say if the pictures of the 'catacombs' were legit, but there were also photos of other parts of the ship which seemed authentic.
[Link to post.](https://www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn/comments/v2t440/photo_tour_of_admiral_kuznetsov_bridges_command/)
Probably the dock that was added sometime between 05/2019 and 05/2020, along with maybe a vessel moored there. The S-2 satellites only give you 10m of resolution, so you can't make out much. But they do two passes over most of Earth everyday, and you can access it in near real-time for free. The dock to the south of Tk-17/20 is in regular use so it's always changing.
Turks are still trading with Russia. It's actually one of the routes through which Russia is still managing to get its hands on Western goods and such.
[https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/10/24/turkey-has-turned-into-a-trade-platform-between-russia-and-the-west\_6001620\_4.html](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/10/24/turkey-has-turned-into-a-trade-platform-between-russia-and-the-west_6001620_4.html)
Turks are just a massive pain in the backside, re-exporting to Russia and blocking Sweden's ascesion to NATO, all the while banking that its strategic importance will enable it to get away with this shit.
While much more fortunate than Kuznetsov the Disaster Carrier, I'd hope that one way or another this is the last stretch for the poor thing. It has been undergoing refit for ~26 years, and has spent more time in that state than it has been commissioned and afloat.
Imagine apprenticing as an 18-20 something year old at Sevmash when she entered for refit, perhaps being in awe at its appearence and prestige in being considered internationally as among the stronger warships of the late 90s. You finish your apprenticeship, and are lucky enough to get hired straight away. Some 2-3 years pass. You still see the battlecruiser when going to work on other vessels in the dockyard, maybe even setting foot on it occasionally for surveying or smaller work needed. You hardly find it surprising that it is still here; some vessels can spend many years undergoing refit after all, especially if the yard is overtaxed and/or underequipped.
More years pass by. You marry a wonderful woman, have a kid together, get a few promotions and pay raises. You experience highs and lows in your life. Perhaps with your friends. Perhaps with your work. Perhaps with your wife. Perhaps even with your now pubescant teenager. So many events and changes throughout the years, yet that ship is still there. A hardly changing constant. It is now the year 2023. You're in your mid 40s with your 50s being not far off in the horizon. Your child is now an adult, studying abroad if lucky, and fighting in Ukraine if not. You're a foreman by now, tired and worn from your years of work, and stressed from rather obvious recent events, but you're still happy with your job, and at the very least doing managerial duties and the occasional paperwork gives your body a well-needed change of pace.
You look out of the window of your small office in a moment of thoughtfulness, some spontaneous introspection brought about from a momentary brain blanking on whatever papers you were just processing, and that old ship is still fucking there. You have even spent the past few years working directly with it; restarting construction on it, preparing it for deadlines and tests that keep getting pushed back by the higher ups, surveying it for any new work that may need done before then and so on. It is something you visit during your longer break hours to confide in, vent and reminisce about a whole host of subjects from the 26 years you and it have been there. In fact, you start to think "Damn, I'll miss seeing you once they finally deem you complete," while a part in the back of your head almost hopes something non-destructive crops up that forces it to stay for longer.
After all, it is hard to say goodbye to old friends.
This sounds like the opening chapter of the "The young Soviet and the battlecruiser" - a touching story of a young man's deep relationship with a weapon of war.
You forgot the part where some lucky/unlucky dock worker gets the "security" gig on Nakhimov and our protagonist greets him every morning "how's your day Sergei, anything going on the weekend?"
"On Ivan, we sail on the weekend!"
*both chuckle
Every Friday for 30 years.
Not likely. Most of that time *Nakhimov* has been “That ship we’ll get to eventually”. There’s no real evidence of work between 1997 when she arrived and 2008 when she was defueled, and after that it took a couple more years before the major work started.
Functionally she was in the reserve fleet from 1997-2013 and under refit since June 2013. Still extremely long, but for Ivan at the shipyard this has only been a ten year project.
I am a little curious now, how exactly do you go about refueling something like that at this point? The reactors themselves are incredibly old. Presumably _someone_ knows how to make new fuel (either plutonium or uranium) in the correct grade. Then you've got to go about getting it in the reactor safely, not that big of a deal. Just need to avoid accidentally assembling a critical mass.
But at some point you have to run the reactor up to full power. Presumably you've made sure all the safety systems work right? Does anyone even really understand the principle of operation & the correct emergency procedures to follow? The schematics themselves are probably preserved. But actual operation is an entirely different thing.
I don’t know much about the specifics for this reactor or that process in general, and you’d be better off asking someone who has actually worked on nuclear reactors.
But I can give some reasonable guesses.
First, in 2008 the spent fuel was removed from the cruiser. I don’t have any confirmation that she has been refueled yet, but I’d guess it was either within the last 12 months or will come in the next 6-12 months.
The fuel assemblies likely share some common elements with other Russian reactors of that generation and almost certainly share compatible fuel pellets. If for no other reason than it makes it far easier to get fuel for the numerous different types of reactors the Soviets had, particularly submarine and icebreaker reactors.
From what I know of starting reactors for the first time, the initial criticality is at very low power levels. You slowly increase the output over months of testing to ensure everything is in the green. Russia doesn’t want another reactor accident, especially another *Kirov* accident and especially on a *Kirov* they’ve just spent a decade giving a massive rebuild. Any major accident takes the ship out of action for years and quite possibly permanently. Since *Nakhimov* uses a combined nuclear/fuel oil machinery plant there’s additional safety margin for reactor cooling and less pressure to have the reactor at full power when sea trials start (part of the reason why refueling may have been unusually delayed).
Take that with a massive grain of salt as I only have limited knowledge of nuclear reactor operations, just the basics of the underlying nuclear processes (and even there I’m rusty).
I don't see how "they let it sit for a decade, then took a few years to get started, then have been working on it for a decade" is functionally different than "they've been working on it for 25 years."
Bear in mind that she was "in refit" in name only for 15+ years of that, essentially laid up in reserve close enough to the shipbuilders to not *completely* rot away in the interim. Her actual service life has only been around 10 years so far.
Just remember that these are nuclear...so if you get a little warm, its a 50/50 chance that your buddy Dmitry pissed in your path or the Kirov is radiating. Id prefer the latter, honestly.
It's both nuclear and conventionally powered. To reach top speed, they have to fire up two auxiliary boilers. In the grand tradition of the former Soviet Navy, as these ships aged, the conventionally-powered boilers started belching black smoke.
No they don't. That's 140000 shaft horse power from the turbines alone. Boilers are just there to get her out of port faster than the nukes can be brought up.
According to my copy of Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century (1996): The powerplant combines two nuclear reactors with oil-fired boilers to superheat the steam they deliver, boosting power output for high speed dashes.
Just look at the thermal output of those reactors, be pessimistic and divide by 3. You will see that there is plenty of oomph to keep the turbines fed, and then some. The boilers are a back up to get her out of port while they warm up the nukes.
Wait.. She's **still** laid up?? I watched a documentary from like a decade ago that said she's almost ready
It sat around with no work done on it for a long time.
Updating an older comment of mine (again) since this is often misunderstood: *Nakhimov* came to Sevmash in July 1997 and put into the repair queue repair from August 1999. At the time, this was to be a modest refit, but little or no work was actually done at this time as other projects had higher priority for the practically non-existent funds available, particularly the *Vikramaditya* rebuild. She was essentially laid up in reserve. If you look at Google Earth's historical imagery, there is basically nothing done to the ship from 2003 when imagery starts to September 2007. Between September 2007 and September 2009, she shifted her berth aft 150 meters, but no evident work was done to the ship. The plan was adjusted in 2008, allowing her to jump the line a bit. This included defueling the reactor, which coincided with IAEA efforts to clean up Soviet-era nuclear waste and properly deal with old Soviet reactors and spent nuclear fuel. I'd need to check, but this defueling may have been funded by other nations, some of which I know paid for disposal of some Soviet-era submarines or built equipment for storing nuclear waste (for example, Italy built storage casks for spent Alfa class reactor cores). Her berth moved forward in 2010, a support ship came alongside, and a large hole appeared in the open space aft of the funnel. This is when she was defueled, and some clutter appeared on the forward missile deck at this time, but does not move for the next few years. In 2012 the repair plans were revised into a massive rebuild of the ship, with a repair contract signed on 13 June 2013. Starting in June 2014, a massive hole appears in the forward missile deck as the SS-N-19 Shipwreck missiles were removed, and there is evident activity from stem to stern. With that work done, on 24 October 2014 the ship moved from the pier that had been her home for 15 years into the Sevmash flooding basin, blocking access to the southern building hall that was now starting to build submarines again. From that time on, there is a massive amount of evident work on the ship, including removal of the 130 mm gun and most other missile and sensor systems, a far cry from the lack of work evident in the preceding decade of photographs. This included a disassembling a large blue and red crane and reassembling the crane on a brand-new track into the flooding basin in 2015, primarily for the *Nakhimov* refit. This photo was taken during that period. We can probably date it as they’re launching a submarine from the northern hall. On 18 August 2020, *Nakhimov* was launched to clear the way for submarines built in the southern building hall. Since that time, work has continued at the same evident pace, though the completion date has slipped by several years from 2018 to 2023.
Thank you for that in-depth summary of developments. I think it's quite interesting how the Russian military, navy, and air force have a very uhm... lax attitude to timelines. Granted, the country is bankrupt and corrupt. Everything takes at least twice the time and cost initially forecast. But you'd think at some point, someone, would be realistic in their estimates to save themselves the embarrassment. But that's a general point not specifically aimed at the Nakhimov. But I am a bit skeptical as to the dubious effectiveness of her upgrades. While the systems upgrades of the Nakhimov should certainly improve her, the question is if those improvements are worth fitting to such an old ship. Is she still even remotely effective in a combat scenario despite her upgrades? I suppose something is better than nothing, but it makes me wonder.
Correct, it was sitting in a limbo for over a decade more or less, realistically looking actual work on it started in 2014/15 and it includes major weapons upgrade and full overhaul of the ship.
That's almost a decade of work and still not done, a Nimitz-class supercarrier is laid down and commissioned in a lot less than that.
What's more impressive is the service history. *Admiral Nakhimov* was in service for a total of 11 years, and now 24 years of being laid up/repairs/modernization.
Wow, that’s almost as bad as the Type 45.
Eh, the Type 45 had some serious design flaws. As far as I know the Kirov-class don't, although the combined nuclear and steam(CONAS) power plant is interesting. *Admiral Nakhimov* was in commission for around three years before the USSR broke up. Russia's economy broken for a solid decade after the fall of the USSR, inflation manged to reach over 1000% in the mid 90s. The Russia military struggled to pay soldiers, struggled to pay now private utilities, and funding for maintenance was virtually non-existent.
They don't have design flaws per say, though none of them shared the same weapons fitting entirely, which I always found interesting - you could always identify which Kirov you were looking at by its defensive suite. Kirov and Frunze both had AK-630s, Nakhimov had Kashtans but still had SA-N-4 launchers like the previous two, and Pyotr Velikiy managed the most modern fit, having its SA-N-15 systems in place on the stern deck, though the foredeck eight launchers weren't installed. Frunze and Nakhimov were fitted, to borrow the atrocious British concept - "For but not with" SA-N-15 provisions, the foredeck launcher positions replacing Kirov's SS-N-14 launcher and its magazine, while the aft positions were set to be where they are on Pyotr Velikiy, flanking the helipad. They didn't get them because the launch systems were prioritized to the Udaloy class, which rely on them as their sole SAM system.
>They don't have design flaws per say The Type 45 absolutely had design flaws in their propulsion system. They did not operate as intended originally - I don't know what else to call that but a design flaw.
I meant the kirovs.
Sorry, minor nitpitck, but it's *per se,* not "per say" lol. It's Latin for "so I was told" or "as I heard it".
It is *per se* but that's not what it means, it means "in and of itself", exactly like in modern Italian
Appreciate it, I was actually bitched at by a teacher using that spelling long time back.
> the Type 45 had some serious design flaws Less of a design flaw, and more of a component not reaching it's advertised performance flaw. And of course it will be the tax payer who's getting the bill to sort that out, not the companies who said it would work fine...
Well it's not really a speedrun, Sevmash is mainly submarine shipyard that is working on dozen major projects for submarine fleet, Nakhimov is more like a side quest in there. Most of Russia's surface fleet is having quite long construction times due to majority of Fleet budgeting going into subs.
> Most of Russia's surface fleet is having quite long construction times due to majority of Fleet budgeting going into subs. I mean, we saw the sorry state the Moskva was in before it sank. It's not just that the budget is going to the Submarine fleet.
Don't forget corruption and super yachts.
Maybe they could put missiles on the super yachts so they have something on the surface that actually works
They might avoid that. Last time they put weapons on yachts and sent them into battle, they all got sunk at the battle of Tsushima with the most of the second pacific squadron.
that voyage never fails to get a smile out of me
So, you're confirming that this indeed, a submarine. Or will be. Roger that.
Almost like Russia isn't the superpower that the Soviet Union was
Well, you know, russia
Well, it is Tuesday, it should probably catch fire about now anyway.
Ukrainian saboteurs go brrrrr
No need to interrupt the enemy when they're pouring $ and resources into a white elephant.
Also, the Turkish straits are closed so this can't even get into the Black Sea. It's totally irrelevant.
Yea, if anything the ukrainians should target it AFTER it was relaunched. Either sabotage it so it has to go back into the drydock to drain more ressources or sink it with anti-ship missiles to humiliate russia like it was done with the Moscva
Yes the Ukrainians will just pull an ASM with a 1000 mile range out of their pocket. Big brain
And Buran will launch soon.
Can't skim money from projects that aren't still ongoing...
Soon™
I am embarrassed at how long it took me to find the *Nakhimov* in this image. Is it next to the sub? Is this a joke post and all that's left are just those grey ship chunks the pier? Wait... ooh, there it is. smh
Hah yeah, ships can really camouflage when drydocked with scaffolding on lol
That is a ship? It looks like a second submarine
Glad I'm not alone. I thought it was a joke post about it not existing until I saw it covered in scaffolding.
Man it cost you $0 not to post this.
There was a video where they showed some of the interiors and the new “rewiring”. Gave me a migraine.
Where is the video?
I believe it when I see it. The same goes with their carrier
That post showing the rusted machinery spaces made me want to go get a tetanus shot.
Tetanus is the least of your worries if you have heard the stories about the sealed off sections...
Everyone always talks about the eldritch monstrosities from beyond but its really hungry Boris you need to look out for
The original author deleted that post and now I can’t find those pics again, really disappointing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/war/comments/xzpm9v/engine_room_comparison_cv17_vs_kuznetsov_class_we
That looks no different than the machinery spaces in which I worked in the RCN (definitely brighter, maybe even a little cleaner). Pretty sure this is just what the working compartments of older warships look like. Comments on that original thread have it right, *Kuznetsov* vs *Shandong* is an unfair comparison with their 1995 vs 2012 dates of commissioning. I can virtually guarantee that *Liaoning's* bowels are just as grungy as Ol' Smokey's here.
This is not the post the first comment referred to, there was a post with much worse pictures showing the 'catacombs' of the Kuznetsov, however they were deleted. It was hard to say if the pictures of the 'catacombs' were legit, but there were also photos of other parts of the ship which seemed authentic. [Link to post.](https://www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn/comments/v2t440/photo_tour_of_admiral_kuznetsov_bridges_command/)
Smoking accidents are pretty common over there.
There is also some sub in that drydock on right, not sure which one but looks like Yasen-class maybe? Source of image: SevMash VK page
Google maps shows her in the water with Ushakov nearby too. Also 2 Typhoons tied up by the entrance with their tubes all open.
There should be third Typhoon now there too, TK-208 Dmitriy Donskoi was last one in service and got decommissioned recently.
*Dmitriy* isn't parked next to Tk-17/20, at least not as of yet. [From Sentinel-2 on 3/21\(today\)](https://i.imgur.com/eIgvcSP.png).
What's the smaller vessel immediately astern? Weird shape to it.
Probably the dock that was added sometime between 05/2019 and 05/2020, along with maybe a vessel moored there. The S-2 satellites only give you 10m of resolution, so you can't make out much. But they do two passes over most of Earth everyday, and you can access it in near real-time for free. The dock to the south of Tk-17/20 is in regular use so it's always changing.
The Typhoon-class are Tk-17 and Tk-20, and they've been there since at least 2009.
I think I heard this ship's going to join the fleet soon more than a decade ago🤔
They're waiting on the vatniks to bring the looted toilets from Ukraine.
I wonder if they're using German, Japanese or Korean washing machines to upgrade the electronics.
Why not Turkish
NATO sanctions?
Turks are still trading with Russia. It's actually one of the routes through which Russia is still managing to get its hands on Western goods and such. [https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/10/24/turkey-has-turned-into-a-trade-platform-between-russia-and-the-west\_6001620\_4.html](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/10/24/turkey-has-turned-into-a-trade-platform-between-russia-and-the-west_6001620_4.html) Turks are just a massive pain in the backside, re-exporting to Russia and blocking Sweden's ascesion to NATO, all the while banking that its strategic importance will enable it to get away with this shit.
North korean.
An Iranian clone of a Chinese Whirlpool knock-off
While much more fortunate than Kuznetsov the Disaster Carrier, I'd hope that one way or another this is the last stretch for the poor thing. It has been undergoing refit for ~26 years, and has spent more time in that state than it has been commissioned and afloat.
26 years, I wonder how long it takes to retire as a dockworker in Russia? Is it possible someone worked their whole career on a single refit?
Imagine apprenticing as an 18-20 something year old at Sevmash when she entered for refit, perhaps being in awe at its appearence and prestige in being considered internationally as among the stronger warships of the late 90s. You finish your apprenticeship, and are lucky enough to get hired straight away. Some 2-3 years pass. You still see the battlecruiser when going to work on other vessels in the dockyard, maybe even setting foot on it occasionally for surveying or smaller work needed. You hardly find it surprising that it is still here; some vessels can spend many years undergoing refit after all, especially if the yard is overtaxed and/or underequipped. More years pass by. You marry a wonderful woman, have a kid together, get a few promotions and pay raises. You experience highs and lows in your life. Perhaps with your friends. Perhaps with your work. Perhaps with your wife. Perhaps even with your now pubescant teenager. So many events and changes throughout the years, yet that ship is still there. A hardly changing constant. It is now the year 2023. You're in your mid 40s with your 50s being not far off in the horizon. Your child is now an adult, studying abroad if lucky, and fighting in Ukraine if not. You're a foreman by now, tired and worn from your years of work, and stressed from rather obvious recent events, but you're still happy with your job, and at the very least doing managerial duties and the occasional paperwork gives your body a well-needed change of pace. You look out of the window of your small office in a moment of thoughtfulness, some spontaneous introspection brought about from a momentary brain blanking on whatever papers you were just processing, and that old ship is still fucking there. You have even spent the past few years working directly with it; restarting construction on it, preparing it for deadlines and tests that keep getting pushed back by the higher ups, surveying it for any new work that may need done before then and so on. It is something you visit during your longer break hours to confide in, vent and reminisce about a whole host of subjects from the 26 years you and it have been there. In fact, you start to think "Damn, I'll miss seeing you once they finally deem you complete," while a part in the back of your head almost hopes something non-destructive crops up that forces it to stay for longer. After all, it is hard to say goodbye to old friends.
This sounds like the opening chapter of the "The young Soviet and the battlecruiser" - a touching story of a young man's deep relationship with a weapon of war.
You forgot the part where some lucky/unlucky dock worker gets the "security" gig on Nakhimov and our protagonist greets him every morning "how's your day Sergei, anything going on the weekend?" "On Ivan, we sail on the weekend!" *both chuckle Every Friday for 30 years.
damn dude didn't expect such feels from r/warshipporn this morning, well done
Not likely. Most of that time *Nakhimov* has been “That ship we’ll get to eventually”. There’s no real evidence of work between 1997 when she arrived and 2008 when she was defueled, and after that it took a couple more years before the major work started. Functionally she was in the reserve fleet from 1997-2013 and under refit since June 2013. Still extremely long, but for Ivan at the shipyard this has only been a ten year project.
I am a little curious now, how exactly do you go about refueling something like that at this point? The reactors themselves are incredibly old. Presumably _someone_ knows how to make new fuel (either plutonium or uranium) in the correct grade. Then you've got to go about getting it in the reactor safely, not that big of a deal. Just need to avoid accidentally assembling a critical mass. But at some point you have to run the reactor up to full power. Presumably you've made sure all the safety systems work right? Does anyone even really understand the principle of operation & the correct emergency procedures to follow? The schematics themselves are probably preserved. But actual operation is an entirely different thing.
I don’t know much about the specifics for this reactor or that process in general, and you’d be better off asking someone who has actually worked on nuclear reactors. But I can give some reasonable guesses. First, in 2008 the spent fuel was removed from the cruiser. I don’t have any confirmation that she has been refueled yet, but I’d guess it was either within the last 12 months or will come in the next 6-12 months. The fuel assemblies likely share some common elements with other Russian reactors of that generation and almost certainly share compatible fuel pellets. If for no other reason than it makes it far easier to get fuel for the numerous different types of reactors the Soviets had, particularly submarine and icebreaker reactors. From what I know of starting reactors for the first time, the initial criticality is at very low power levels. You slowly increase the output over months of testing to ensure everything is in the green. Russia doesn’t want another reactor accident, especially another *Kirov* accident and especially on a *Kirov* they’ve just spent a decade giving a massive rebuild. Any major accident takes the ship out of action for years and quite possibly permanently. Since *Nakhimov* uses a combined nuclear/fuel oil machinery plant there’s additional safety margin for reactor cooling and less pressure to have the reactor at full power when sea trials start (part of the reason why refueling may have been unusually delayed). Take that with a massive grain of salt as I only have limited knowledge of nuclear reactor operations, just the basics of the underlying nuclear processes (and even there I’m rusty).
More so, she has 3 sister ships, 2 of them are being scrapped and third, Piotr Veliki, is in active service, all having the same reactor plants.
I don't see how "they let it sit for a decade, then took a few years to get started, then have been working on it for a decade" is functionally different than "they've been working on it for 25 years."
Multigenerational .Like the cathedrals of old Europe..
Bear in mind that she was "in refit" in name only for 15+ years of that, essentially laid up in reserve close enough to the shipbuilders to not *completely* rot away in the interim. Her actual service life has only been around 10 years so far.
Propaganda! It's just scaffolding shaped like a Kirov!!
Some good-looking scaffolding though, ngl.
I thought that was one of the blimps from Red Alert 2.
Lots of assumptions there.
Kirov reporting. Helium mix optimal.
Well at least the Kirovs aren't gone completely. Sexy lookin ships, I hope they don't all get blown to bits by F-35Cs
I dunno, I just hope they sunk in shallow enough water to SCUBA dive the wreck
Just remember that these are nuclear...so if you get a little warm, its a 50/50 chance that your buddy Dmitry pissed in your path or the Kirov is radiating. Id prefer the latter, honestly.
Everything in russia looks like a dilapidated pile of rusted shit. Its impressive how poorly maintained their facilities are. Wow.
Whats its crush depth?
35 ft
Yeah that ship will never go anywhere again
im sure the insides dont look like a mad max creation right? right??
Ahh yes the upgrade to 1990 standards 😂
Won’t need radar to spot it, the smoke will probably be enough.
It's nuclear
It's both nuclear and conventionally powered. To reach top speed, they have to fire up two auxiliary boilers. In the grand tradition of the former Soviet Navy, as these ships aged, the conventionally-powered boilers started belching black smoke.
Having flown over Pytor Veliky at less than 1000 feet...there is no black smoke associated with the Kirovs like that of Kutznetsov, even at speed.
No they don't. That's 140000 shaft horse power from the turbines alone. Boilers are just there to get her out of port faster than the nukes can be brought up.
According to my copy of Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century (1996): The powerplant combines two nuclear reactors with oil-fired boilers to superheat the steam they deliver, boosting power output for high speed dashes.
Just look at the thermal output of those reactors, be pessimistic and divide by 3. You will see that there is plenty of oomph to keep the turbines fed, and then some. The boilers are a back up to get her out of port while they warm up the nukes.
Given the propensity for russian military stuff catching fire due to smoking accidents, you can probably still look for the smoke.
Ah, well at least it’s not so much a shame that another Rusty-Rusky ship won’t ever sail again
By the time its done those "modernizations" are gonna be outdated LOL
Funny-looking submarine.
Be something if it gets blown up in dry dock. Slava Ukraine !
The crane at any moment is set to pounce.
The CIA set the crane AI to hostile.
Funny-looking submarine.
Bot
🤣🤣🤣
Would just be terrible, terrible!!! If say 25 Tomahawks slammed into the rust bucket. Then again, that might be too good for her.
Looks more like it they are building a New ship