Russia Admits It Doesn't Have Any Dry Docks That Can Fit Its Lone Carrier After Accident - AC carrier RU.jpg ...

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Russia has officially confirmed that it does not have any facilities that can
service its lone carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, after the country’s massive
PD-50 floating dry dock sank in October 2018. State-owned United Shipbuilding
Corporation, or USC, says that it is looking into alternatives for servicing the
flattop, but those substitutes could be months, if not years away from becoming
operational.

USC chief executive Alexei Rakhmanov provided the new details while talking with
reporters on Nov. 7, 2018. PD-50, one of the largest floating dry docks in the
world, sank at the 82nd Shipbuilding Plant at Roslyakovo near Murmansk on Oct.
30, 2018. At the time, Kuznetsov was on board undergoing a major overhaul and
the carrier sustained damage during the incident.

“We have alternatives actually for all the ships except for Admiral Kuznetsov,”
Rakhmanov explained. “We hope that the issue of the docking … will be resolved
in the near future. We are also preparing several alternatives, about which we
will report to the Industry and Trade Ministry.”

Russia’s most likely course of action will be to try and refloat and repair any
damage to PD-50. The cause of the accident was reportedly an electrical
malfunction that left the pumps in the dry dock’s ballast tanks stuck on,
causing it to sink rapidly.

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The dock may have simply settled softly to the bottom of Kola Bay and have not
suffered any major structural damage, but it's not meant to rest on uneven land
and could have come down at an angle. Pictures we have seen of it right before
it submerged showed it listing heavily, so this is a real possibility. Any
protracted time spent fully underwater will almost certainly lead to major
issues with its apparently already problematic electrical and mechanical
systems. Russia says it intends to force “the side that will be found guilty of
allowing the incident to happen” to pay for any recovery effort, according to
TASS.

....

When it comes to Russia's only aircraft carrier, the real question is whether or
not this mishap provides the impetus for the country to finally abandon the
often unreliable, dated, sometimes dangerous, and debatably useful ship entirely
as well as its air wing. That Kuznetsov's fate is so closely linked to that of
PD-50 highlights the continuing difficulties the Russian Navy will face in
maintaining the flattop in the long term even if they get the floating dry dock
back into service in a timely manner.

There are also still serious concerns about how even the temporary loss of PD-50
will impact the Russian Navy’s maintenance schedules for other large ships and
submarines, as well. The dry dock provides vital repair capacity for Russia’s
Northern Fleet as a whole, especially its large submarines.



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