Admiral Kuznetsov

Perhaps we have been too hard on the USS Gerald R. Ford. Sure her weapons elevators don’t work and for tactical purposes the most expensive warship ever built may be little more than a $13 billion berthing barge. Nevertheless, at least she is not Russia’s only aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which yesterday suffered a major fire.

At least one person died in the fire which broke out Thursday morning on Russia’s only aircraft carrier during repair work in Russia’s Arctic Sea port of Murmansk, according to Russian state news agencies. A further 12 people were injured and two are missing, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

This is the latest in a series of mishaps and malfunctions for Russia’s only aircraft carrier. Where the United States has 11 large nuclear-powered carriers and an additional 8 amphibious assault ships which would qualify as carriers in most of the world’s navies, Russia has only one carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is just barely holding on. 

Last year, Russia’s largest floating drydock sank from underneath the Admiral Kuznetsov, damaging the carrier hull and deck above the waterline as the dock sank. The dock sank in deep water and was the only drydock capable of lifting the carrier. It is unclear how long the refloating and repairs to the drydock will take, so when underwater repairs to the carrier will be completed are in doubt.  

As we noted in a post from last year, the carrier was ordered in 1981, commissioned in 1990 but was not fully operational until 1995.  The carrier is steam turbine-powered and burns heavy fuel. Since it was delivered the ship has had chronic boiler problems. A Russian news article described the Kuznetsov as having a “weak heart.”

Between bad boiler tubes, combustion problems, and burning Mazut, a Russian version of Bunker C, the carrier is notorious for belching a vast cloud of black smoke whenever underway. 

Beyond the oily smoke, the carrier’s operating history has been troubled. The ship has never been deployed for longer than six months and has famously been followed by oceangoing tugboats during all of its sea voyages in case the ship breaks down. There were reports that in a 2011 deployment, the U.S. Navy’s Sixth Fleet kept close by so it could rescue crew, in case the Admiral Kuznetsov happened to sink. 

During a deployment to Syria in 2016 deployment, one MiG-29K/KUB multirole fighter crashed due to a faulty arresting wire. A Sukhoi Su-33 air superiority fighter also plunged into the Mediterranean Sea when an arresting cable snapped during the landing.”