Soviet aircraft carrier Minsk

Minsk in 1983
History
Russia
NameMinsk
NamesakeCity of Minsk
BuilderChernomorskiy yard, Mykolayiv
Laid down28 December 1972 [1]
Launched30 September 1975 [1]
Commissioned27 September 1978 [1]
Decommissioned30 June 1993
StatusSold to China in 1995; sold again and placed in Naval museum in Jiangsu, China since 2016. Severely damaged by fire on 16 August 2024
General characteristics
Class and typeKiev-class aircraft cruiser
Displacement
  • 30,535 tons (standard) [1]
  • 41,380 tons (loaded) [1]
Length273 m (896 ft) overall[1]
Beam
  • 49.2 m (161 ft) o/a
  • 31 m (102 ft) w/l[1]
Draught8.94 m (29.3 ft)[1]
Propulsion4 shaft geared steam turbines, 140,000 shp
Speed32 knots (59 km/h)
Endurance13,500 nautical miles (25,000 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
Armament
  • 4 × twin SS-N-12 Sandbox SSM launchers (8 missiles)
  • 2 × twin SA-N-3 Shtorm SAM launchers (72 missiles)
  • 2 × twin SA-N-4 Gecko SAM launchers (40 missiles)
  • 2 × twin 76 mm guns
  • 8 × AK-630 30 mm CIWS
  • 10 × 533 mm torpedo tubes
  • 1 × twin SUW-N-1 ASW rocket launcher (16 nuclear-tipped rockets)
  • 2 × RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launchers
Aircraft carried

Minsk (Russian: Минск) is an aircraft carrier (heavy aircraft cruiser in Russian classification)[a] that served the Soviet Navy and the Russian Navy from 1978 to 1994. She was the second Kiev-class vessel to be built.

From 2000 to 2016 she was a theme park known as Minsk World in Shatoujiao, Yantian, Shenzhen, China.

In April 2016, Minsk was towed to Jiangsu for exhibition. On 16 August 2024, she was burnt in a fire in Nantong, Jiangsu province.

History

Russian service

Minsk being shadowed by the US destroyer USS Elliot during her 1979 Pacific cruise
Kamov Ka-25 'Hormone' helicopters and Yakovlev Yak-38 'Forger' VTOL strike fighters parked on the flight deck of Minsk in 1986

Named after the capital city of Belarus, Minsk was laid down in 1972, launched on 30 September 1975, completed on 27 September 1978.

Minsk operated with the Pacific Fleet. Shortly after the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979, Minsk was deployed to the South China Sea, making a port of call at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, in September 1980. She visited Vietnam again in 1982 during her second deployment before sailing onto the Indian Ocean.[2] In 1984, Minsk, the Ivan Rogov-class landing ship Aleksandr Nikolayev, and Vietnam forces conducted the Soviet Navy's first amphibious landing in Vietnam.[3]

Soviet cosmonaut Oleg Grigoriyevich Kononenko survived an aircraft ejection on the Minsk in 1979. On September 8, 1980, he was killed in the crash of a Yakovlev Yak-38 VTOL fighter on the Minsk.[4]

The carrier was retired, and decommissioned on 30 June 1993, as a result of a major accident (details not known) which required the facilities at the Chernomorskiy yard, in Mykolayiv, located in the newly independent Ukraine (the reasons for not attempting a repair are not known).

Shenzhen Minsk World, China

Main article: Minsk World
Minsk at Minsk World, Shenzhen, China

In 1995 Minsk was sold for scrap to a South Korean company. Due to protests from South Korean environmentalists, the ship was resold to the Chinese state-owned Guangdong Ship Dismantling Company. The ship was again saved from the scrapyard when a group of Chinese video-game arcade owners formed the Shenzhen Minsk Investment Company to buy the ship for $4.3 million.[5]

Minsk became the centerpiece of a military theme park in Yantian district, Shatoujiao (沙头角) sub-district, Shenzhen called Minsk World. However, the Shenzhen Minsk company went bankrupt in 2006, and the carrier was put up for auction on 22 March 2006. On 31 May 2006, the carrier was sold in Shenzhen for 128 million RMB to CITIC Shenzhen.[citation needed]

The ship was again sold to Dalian Yongjia Group, a real estate company in Dalian in North China, on 1 January 2013.[6] On 3 April 2016, Chinese news reported the aircraft carrier had been towed to a new destination, Zhoushan for refit,[7] because of the decline of the number of tourists after 2006.

After the refit is completed, the ship is to be taken to Nantong on the Yangtse River in Jiangsu Province and moored to the west of Sutong Yangtze River Bridge as part of a new theme park which was planned to open in 2017.[8][9] As of 2018, the project is delayed.[10]

On 16 August 2024, the ship caught fire during further refit work in Nantong. Although the fire could be extinguished, the future of the ship as a centerpiece of another theme park became uncertain.[11][12][13]

See also

References

  1. ^ Due to restrictions imposed by the Montreux Convention limiting the tonnage of aircraft carriers traveling through the Bosporus, all Soviet and Russian aircraft carriers are named as aircraft carrying cruisers. In the case of Minsk, this accurately reflects the ship's mission and weapons fit.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Project 1143". Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  2. ^ Mediansky, F. A. (1984). "Soviet Strategic Interests in Southeast Asia". Southeast Asian Affairs. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies: 36–37. JSTOR 27908494.
  3. ^ Acharya, Amitav (March 1988). "The United States Versus the USSR in the Pacific: Trends in the Military Balance". Contemporary Southeast Asia. 9 (4). Institute of Southeast Asian Studies: 287. doi:10.1355/CS9-4C. JSTOR 25797972.
  4. ^ "Олег Григорьевич Кононенко". astronaut.ru. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  5. ^ Laris, Michael (25 January 1999). "China's First Aircraft Carrier Anchors in 'Fun Zone'". The Washington Post.
  6. ^ Zhang, Yang (2013-02-01). "Minsk carrier staying in Shenzhen". Shenzhen Daily. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  7. ^ 明斯克航母拖离深圳 逾千市民雨中拍照送行 (in Chinese). 3 April 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  8. ^ Han, Ximin (4 April 2016). "Soviet-era ship leaves Shenzhen". Shenzhen Daily. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  9. ^ "中国首艘航母明斯克号起锚驶向江苏 4月下旬抵达". 扬子晚报网. 2016-04-04. Archived from the original on 2016-04-13. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  10. ^ "陸打造軍事迪士尼 落戶南通". chinatimes.com/. 7 December 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  11. ^ Old aircraft carrier, once part of mighty Soviet fleet, burns in Chinese lagoon, CNN, 19 August 2024.
  12. ^ 南通消防：长江边一废旧航母在拆除改造时发生火灾，无人员伤亡 (in Chinese). 16 August 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  13. ^ "Fire breaks out in China on former Soviet aircraft carrier Minsk". South China Morning Post. 2024-08-17. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
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