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By: - 10th November 2018 at 20:00 Permalink
They have two installations capable of taking her in, but the most suitable one, the PD-41 floating dock (which has similar specs as this PD-50 one) is all the way over in the Far East of Russia, so that's probably a no-go.
The other option is the dry dock at Sevmash, which is located reasonably close and which previously fit the Vikramaditya with plenty of room to spare (285m, vs Kuznetsov's 305m), but the entrance to that dock is slightly too narrow for the Kuznetsov at present so some pretty big modifications would have to be done anyway. Plus, the Nakhimov nuclear battlecruiser is occuping a good portion of that dock at the moment.
By: - 11th November 2018 at 17:58 Permalink
Agree on the PD-41, though the 6,000m journey would be difficult ( and there are numerous reports stating damage to the Kuznetsov is worse than detailed previously, having taken in thousands of litres of seawater, as it was not ready to be floated) would it even be possible to ship it through the arctic, or would you need to take it the long way round.
As for the other dock, as you state, this would take a lot of work, and with one of their major resources already out of action (the PD-50 normally takes several surface vessels at the same time), taking their other major dry dock out for years (the alteration work then work on the Kuznetsov) would wreak havoc on the northern fleet.
By: - 22nd March 2019 at 17:45 Permalink
Well, they're going to repair her on site in the Murmansk bay, a new dock is under construction at shipyard #35 (ETA 2021) and the preliminary schedule has her back in service by 2022:
https://iz.ru/858009/2019-03-19/avianosetc-admiral-kuznetcov-otremontiruiut-k-2021-godu
By: - 23rd March 2019 at 10:09 Permalink
Dr. S - I've watched Kuznetsov grow from when he was a keel-block. I'm fairly certain that the Russian ingenuity in engineering skills will see the ship back and working again - you just have to be patient. Nothing happens very quickly over there - but their capacity to surprise is impressive. Please resist the temptation to call Kuznetsov 'she' as this is simply not correct. If you can't bring yourself to call him 'he' then please refer to the vessel as 'it'.
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By: Giblets - 10th November 2018 at 14:39
Not seen any links here, but the massive PD50 floating dry dock that the Russians use to repair/ service the Kuznetsov sank a week or so ago, only quick action from the crew still on the Kuznetsov prevented it going down too, as it is a crane crashed through the deck leaving a 5m*4m gash.
although the Kuznetsov wasn't irreparably damaged, it looks like the dry dock is irretrievable (in 160ft of water) and hit the bottom pretty hard. Currently Russia doesn't have any other docks that are capable of holding the Kuznetsov.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/11/russian-officials-nope-we-cant-finish-fixing-the-carrier-kuznetsov/