Russia's troubled carrier: Ongoing delays for admiral Kuznetsov
Failures continue to plague the "Admiral Kuznetsov" – the only aircraft carrier in the Russian fleet, inherited by the Kremlin after the USSR. The "ship of shame" has not been successfully repaired for the third consecutive year.
After entering the repair phase in 2018, following a mission off the coast of Syria, the "Admiral Kuznetsov" has not returned to service as scheduled, and its future remains uncertain.
Putin's battered pride
Originally, it was planned that the ship, built in 1985 and designed to carry and service 28 aircraft and 24 helicopters, would be equipped with the latest "Pantsir-M" anti-aircraft defence systems and prepared for the use of cruise missiles and self-guided aerial bombs.
The United Shipbuilding Corporation promised to complete the work at the 35th Ship Repair Yard in Murmansk by 2022. Then, deadlines were pushed to 2023, and later to 2024. However, according to data from last year, the authorities have still not announced the return of the aircraft carrier to service.
After being sent to Syria, where the "Admiral Kuznetsov" became the subject of ridicule due to black smoke plumes rising over the Atlantic, then British Defence Minister Michael Fallon called the aircraft carrier "the ship of shame."
The worst aircraft carrier in the world
The American magazine National Interest ranked the "Kuznetsov" as the worst aircraft carrier in the world, highlighting poor construction quality, weak technical support, and the lack of any "offspring" in the form of new, more modern aircraft carriers.
The first repair attempt of the ship following the Syrian mission ended in disaster. At the shipyard near Murmansk, the "Admiral Kuznetsov" failed to leave the floating dock. The submersion of the dock was carried out incorrectly – due to a power supply failure, the correct pace of filling the dock's ballast tanks could not be achieved, and its interior was flooded too quickly with water.
As a result of the failure, four people were injured. The deck and hull of the Admiral Kuznetsov were damaged, and the PD-50 dock sank.
A year later, during the repair of the "Admiral Kuznetsov," a fire broke out, resulting in the deaths of two workers and causing damage to the ship itself. In 2018, the authorities estimated the cost of repairing the aircraft carrier at approximately 290 million CAD.
