Some netizens commented: "The number of aircraft carriers in China - 1"
At about 16 o'clock on August 16, the Minsk aircraft carrier parked on the Yangtze River side of Suxitong Park caught fire during the renovation.
I didn't expect the fire of the Minsk aircraft carrier to burn until the night! Judging from the fire, this aircraft carrier is really more than lucky.
This aircraft carrier has been shelved on the side of the Sutong Bridge in Nantong for many years, some time ago I heard that it was going to be renovated, I thought that I finally had the opportunity for everyone to board this aircraft carrier in the future to take a look, who knew that such a thing happened, it is really a pity.
As the sister ship of the aircraft carrier Kiev, the Minsk aircraft carrier is the second of the Soviet Union's second-generation aircraft carriers, the Kiev-class medium aircraft carrier, which is also the first class of Type 1143 aircraft carriers to carry fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft.
The Minsk aircraft carrier was built on December 28, 1972 at the Nikolaev shipyard, and officially entered service with the Pacific Fleet on September 8, 1978, with a standard displacement of 36,576 tons, a full load displacement of 42,000 tons, a cruising range of 4,000-13,500 nautical miles, and 12 Yak-38 vertical take-off and landing fighters and 19 Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopters, with more than 2,000 crew members.
With a total length of 273 meters and a width of 49.2 meters, the Minsk has a flight deck area equivalent to three standard football fields, and mainly performs formation anti-submarine and air supremacy and air defense tasks, and provides anti-ship missile oversight attacks, relay guidance or target designation for other surface ships and submarines, supports amphibious operations, and implements vertical landing.
▲ Minsk at the military port of Vladivostok in 1990
It is equipped with 4 twin SS-N-12 anti-ship missile launchers, 2 twin SA-N-3 medium and long-range anti-aircraft missile launchers, and 2 twin SA-N-4 short-range anti-aircraft missile launchers. The air defense and anti-ship capabilities are no less than those of the Glorious-class cruisers, and the combat effectiveness of a single ship is very strong, and it has always been the flagship and main force of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, and has carried out many maritime operations and escort missions.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited the ship, but because Russia was really poor after the collapse, and the Nikolaev shipyard had been allocated to Ukraine, Russia simply could not afford the operation and maintenance costs, so it was decided to retire it early.
On May 30, 1992, the Minsk, which was not yet halfway through its service life, was officially decommissioned, then dismantled and sold to Korea's Daewoo Group in 1995 with its sister ship Novorossiysk for scrap metal.
At that time, Korea originally wanted to realize its "aircraft carrier dream" in advance by transforming the Minsk, but the aircraft carrier is a systematic project, and technology, economy, and industrial production capacity are indispensable, and Korea cannot play at all.
In addition, after the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Korea's Daewoo Group suffered serious losses, so it had to resell the Minsk to China's Delong Company at a low price of 5.3 million US dollars, which is considered to be a technology and then sold to China at the original price, no matter what, it can take over in the case of the economic crisis, and it is indeed a big profit in the eyes of Koreans.
In August 1999, the devastated Minsk was towed to the Wenchong Shipyard in Guangzhou for a closed large-scale repair and transformation, ready to show off its new look.
Due to the fact that the Minsk has experienced decades of wind and rain, the hull is seriously damaged, and the displacement is less than 50,000 tons, the superstructure occupies too much space, and there are few carrier-based aircraft, which cannot meet the requirements of the Chinese Navy to carry out relevant tests on heavy ships.
In addition, it itself is a third-hand aircraft carrier, when it was bought from the Koreans, there was only an empty hull, there was not a single drawing on the hull construction, the production and assembly of various parts could not be carried out at all, and it did not have the conditions for transformation like the Varyag, so it was not rebuilt and put into service like the Varyag.
China bought it back and wanted to turn it into a military theme park. According to those who participated in the renovation at the time, the construction environment inside the Minsk ship was very complicated, and the entire cabin was like a maze, and even if you followed the signs, it was still difficult for unfamiliar personnel to get in, and it was difficult to get out after entering. Therefore, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the work, all staff on board must undergo a three-day "wayfinding training".
According to a report by Xinhuanet on September 3, 2002, on November 3, 1999, a fire broke out in the engine room of deck 6 during the Minsk's refit at berth 1 of the ship repair dock of Wenchong Shipyard, which was subsequently extinguished. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Fire Bureau determined that the cause of the fire was caused by the negligence of construction workers.
On May 9, 2000, on the day of Victory Day in Russia, the rejuvenated Minsk settled in Dapeng Bay, Shenzhen, becoming the "living signboard" of the military theme park, attracting the attention of countless military fans and the memories of countless Shenzhen people when they were young, with more than 30,000 tourists visiting on the first day of opening.
The following years can be said to be the highlight of the Minsk, although the ticket price is 100 yuan, but it still can't stop the enthusiasm of military fans from all over the country to come to the "pilgrimage", after all, the Minsk is the only place in the country at that time where you can experience the aircraft carrier up close.
▲The Minsk, which is moored in Shenzhen, is already a floating maritime theme park at this time
Later, the Minsk became the filming location of many popular variety shows such as "Run, Brother" and "Extreme Challenge", and the press conference of "Detective Chinatown" was also held here, harvesting a large wave of traffic.
▲ "Run, Brother" of the Minsk aircraft carrier
But as people's novelty faded, coupled with the commissioning of the Liaoning ship, the Minsk was much less popular than before, until February 14, 2016, when the Shenzhen Minsk aircraft carrier world announced its closure.
Subsequently, the Minsk aircraft carrier was sold to the Sutong Science and Technology Industrial Park, first towed to Zhoushan for renovation, and then went north along the Yangtze River to Nantong, Jiangsu.
▲ Torpedo tubes and other equipment left on the Minsk aircraft carrier
At that time, Nantong originally hoped to use the Minsk aircraft carrier to build a 16 billion yuan "Nantong Yangtze River Aircraft Carrier International Tourism Resort Project", but since June 2016, the Minsk has not moved.
The aircraft carrier theme park, which was originally planned to start construction in 2021, has not started for a long time due to financial problems, and the Minsk has been quietly and gradually forgotten by the Yangtze River.
▲ The Minsk aircraft carrier that was forgotten next to the Sutong Bridge
During that time, the Minsk also became the hunting material for many short video bloggers, many of whom were looking for a ship from a nearby shipyard to sneak in, or swim directly to climb onto the aircraft carrier.
▲ You can find many videos of bloggers on the Internet on the inside of the Minsk aircraft carrier
According to the videos and photos taken by these people, the Minsk is not only rusty on the surface, but most of the equipment and decorations on the ship have been disassembled or damaged, because the people who have entered the aircraft carrier without permission over the years have not only broken the door lock and entered the inner cabin to take videos, but also stole a large amount of equipment, and even directly defecated in the cabin, and the interior of the cabin is simply impossible to look at.
▲Inside the aircraft carrier Minsk
The security and management of the aircraft carrier are simply powerless to stop so many "curious people", and can only watch the aircraft carrier become more and more dilapidated, although later Nantong also planned to renovate the aircraft carrier and start the aircraft carrier resort project.
▲ The original image of the resort
But no one has enough money in these years, and the refurbishment of the aircraft carrier requires a lot of expenses, and the operating costs are also very high, and then the profit is actually very chicken, so it has been parked by the river, allowing the giant ship to corrode in the water for eight years, until now it has returned to the public eye in this tragic way.
▲ Burning "Minsk"
In addition to the Minsk, China actually bought three second-hand aircraft carriers.
The earliest one is a retired aircraft carrier purchased from Australia in 1985 - Melbourne, which was originally the 11th light aircraft carrier of the United Kingdom Navy - "Dignity", which was built by United Kingdom at the end of World War II, and was sold to Australia for 8.3 million pounds after being completed in 1955.
Since October 1957, it has collided with 8 warships and merchant ships, among them, in 1964, 82 people died in the sinking of the destroyer "Voyager", in 1969 it sank the US destroyer "Evans", and finally the Melbourne was decommissioned in the 80s.
▲ The U.S. destroyer "Evans", which was knocked off and only the back half was left
In 1985, the China United Ship Recycling Company bought back the "Melbourne" at a price of $1.5 million on the grounds of "dismantling and selling scrap iron", becoming the mainland's first aircraft carrier with zero-distance contact. Zhang Zhaozhong, who was still relatively young at that time, boarded the Melbourne with the delegation to conduct surveying and exploration.
During the survey of the "Melbourne," the Navy Armament Department found that although its weapon system, electronic system, and even power system had been dismantled, the steam catapult was still there, which became an unexpected joy for the mainland navy and accumulated valuable physical knowledge of the aircraft carrier.
The Melbourne has no repair value, its aircraft carrier during World War II, itself is very old and outdated, and the reason for buying it is "selling scrap iron", and the United States are responsible for supervision, so it quickly dismantled and made steel.
In 1988, the Chinese Navy officially launched the strategic research on the development of aircraft carriers, and finally gave birth to the "891 Project", which wanted to build a domestic aircraft carrier with a displacement of 50,000 tons based on the Melbourne, but due to various reasons, the 891 Project failed to be put into practice.
China had to look to the north, and at the end of 1997, Ukraine wanted to sell the Varyag aircraft carrier, so Macau Chuanglu bought the ship for $20 million in the name of building a maritime casino.
Perhaps to make a secret appearance, China bought the Minsk from Korea in 1998 and the Kiev in 1999.
At that time, the Kiev bought by Tianjin Tianma Shipbreaking Company for 70 million yuan, and only an empty shell remained, so in September 2003, it was transformed into an aircraft carrier theme entertainment park. The ship is still parked in Tianjin Binhai New Area, called Tianjin TEDA Aircraft Carrier Theme Park, which not only has aircraft carriers, but also a Russian-style cultural town to play.
▲Interested friends can visit, after all, it is the only Kiev-class aircraft carrier that can be visited
As a memory of the era of the Soviet Red Army, the Kiev aircraft carrier is currently well preserved, and many veterans who served on the Kiev aircraft carrier during the Soviet era came to China to visit and were full of emotion.
▲After an interval of 30 years, Soviet veterans re-boarded the aircraft carrier Kiev
At the same time, the "Varyag" was towed out of the shipyard in July 1999, and finally entered the port of Dalian on March 4, 2002 after many years of transformation, and officially joined the Chinese Navy in 2012 as the Liaoning ship, becoming China's first aircraft carrier in service.
In 2000, the first captain of the Minsk aircraft carrier, Captain Viktor · Alexander ·Gokinaev, was invited to visit China, when he landed in a helicopter from Zhuhai to the Minsk flight deck and personally restored his captain's office, which became one of the best cabins restored to the Minsk aircraft carrier.
▲ Colonel Viktor· Alexander · Gokinaev
▲ Minsk aircraft carrier captain's room
▲ At present, the fire has been basically extinguished, and the bridge and the following parts of Minsk have been seriously burned
And now, the burning Minsk aircraft carrier will undoubtedly ruin this piece of hard work, for a military fan, there is really nothing more to make such a violent fire more sad!
▲ A Soviet veteran left tears of the times when he visited the aircraft carrier Kiev in Tianjin