The head of the USC Rakhmanov reported a fire on the cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov in Murmansk Another fire occurred on the cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov on December 22.
According to the head of the USC Alexey Rakhmanov, the "small incident" was quickly eliminated, no one was injured, there is no damage either. This is the second fire on the ship in five years of its repair. In addition, in 2018, the cruiser's hull was damaged as a result of the flooding of a floating dock off the coast of Murmansk.
New fire
There was a fire on the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which is now at the Murmansk shipyard. Severpost was one of the first to report the incident, citing a source in the emergency services.
According to their data, the fire on the cruiser was assigned a complexity number 2. Such a fire rank is considered a fire of increased complexity and is assigned when the situation becomes critical and requires not only additional human strength, but also a supply of water and equipment. The second category involves the work of three fire brigades or six brigades on tankers.
Later, RIA Novosti, with reference to the head of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) Alexey Rakhmanov, reported that the fire was insignificant.
Murmansk Telegram channels with reference to local emergency services wrote that firefighters eliminated open gorenje on the area of 6 square meters. The fire occurred in cellar No. 18, now specialists are checking the neighboring compartments. The increased difficulty level of the fire was removed.
TASS reported that the aircraft carrier is now in the docks of the Zvezdochka plant. According to the agency, there were no casualties as a result of the incident, 20 people were evacuated from the ship.
What misfortunes haunt "Kuznetsov"
The only Russian aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, was launched in 1985 and commissioned in 1991. After returning from a campaign in Syria in October 2017, it was put under repair, which was supposed to extend its service life by 10 years. However, several incidents occurred during the work, which significantly delayed the completion of the repair.
Repair of the underwater part of the ship's hull began in Murmansk on the floating dock PD-50. On October 30, 2018, the dock sank in the Kola Bay, and its crane damaged the surface part of the cruiser. The Kuznetsov was towed to the berth of the 35th ship repair plant, which was subsequently upgraded specifically for the repair of the vessel.
On December 12, 2019, a large fire occurred on the cruiser: as a result of welding work in the bow of the ship, a spark got into the hold room with remnants of paint and fuel and lubricants, including diesel fuel. The fire quickly grew from 20 square meters to 600. It was extinguished for at least 12 firefighters for about a day, as a result, the emergency compartment was actually flooded. As a result of the incident, two people were killed - a sailor and an officer of the survivability service. More than ten people were injured. In April 2020, the head of the USC estimated the damage caused by the fire at 500 million rubles.
Back in 2018, after the incident with the floating dock, the Ministry of Defense expressed doubts about the expediency of further repairs of the aircraft carrier.
Mikhail Kotlyar
