FEATURE ONE CONQUERORS 60 YEARS · p. 10 p. 26. FEATURE ONE. MAGAZINE . OF THE UNITED SHIPBUILDING...

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CONQUERORS OF ICE

60 YEARS OF THE NUCLEAR ICEBREAKERFLEET

65TH ANNIVERSARY OF RUSSIA'S LEADING SHIPBUILDER

The hearTof a naval power

Colossus's anniversary

GuidinGsTar

ADMIRALTY SHIPYARDS MARKS THE 315TH ANNIVERSARY

p. 05

80 YEARS OF THE GRAND PROJECT SEVMASH

p. 10 p. 26

FEATURE ONE

MAGAZINE OF THE UNITED SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION

SINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMIRALTY SHIPYARDS

YEARSSINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SEVMASH

YEARS

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Built at the Baltic Shipyard, the Academician Lomonosov floating power unit became a breakthrough equally in the shipbuilding and energy sectors. Her delivery to the customer this year marked a significant milestone in the life of the enterprise and

corporation. Naturally, such platforms, facing good export prospective, will fit in Russia’s future just fine.

A 20-year stagnation spell in Russia’s fishing shipbuilding was broken by the Project SK-3101R lead ship Leninets, built at Yantar. The Vyborg Shipyard, as well as other facilities, traditionally catering to the needs of the Navy, Severnaya Verf shipbuilding plant and Admiralty Shipyards among them, also contribute to the trend, constructing advanced trawlers and long-liners.

Another significant development came through in the cruise ship sector. Despite the fact that they had to start almost from scratch, USC’s shipyards already construct two classes of modern and comfortable cruise ships, namely PV300 and PKS 180 Golden Ring.

Finally, science was a buzzword in USC throughout the year referring to both fundamental and applied aspects shaping the most advanced shipbuilding technologies. The Sredne-Nevskiy Shipbuilding

Plant laid down the innovative small research vessel Pioner-M, featuring a composite hull. Also, laid down at Admiralty Shipyards was the ice-resistant self-propelled platform Severny Polus (Russian for Northern Pole) signifying yet another step in the Arctic exploration.

This said, USC still makes it a priority to attend to the state armament procurement program. This year saw the anniversaries of several key defense facilities in Russia, including Admiralty Shipyards, Sevmash, and Zvezdochka. Each of them makes a hefty contribution to Russia’s defense potential and development of domestic shipbuilding.

Admiralty Shipyards floated out an Ivan Papanin-class ice-capable patrol ship and conducted tests of the Project 636.3 diesel-electric submarine Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski. Severnaya Verf built and tested the Project 22350 frigate Admiral of the Fleet Kasatonov and Project 20385 corvette Gremyashchy. Yantar and Sevmash are in the middle of trials of the Project 11711 large landing ship Peter Morgunov and nuclear submarine Knyaz Vladimir respectively. Efforts are apace at the Sredne-Nevskiy Shipyard to build a range of Project 12700 minesweepers, while the Amur Shipbuilding Plant laid down four small missile ships and floated out the Project 20380 corvette Aldar Tsidenzhapov. These are just few hallmarks in the implementation of the state armament procurement program this year.

USC spares no effort to contribute to the prosperity of our Fatherland and jumps at every chance to let Russia maintain its status of a naval power.

I sincerely congratulate our strong and solid team of shipbuilders on the accomplishments of the departing year and wish all and every member of the corporation health, wealth, and new professional achievements!

Happy New Year!

A YEAROF GRAND ACHIEVEMENTS

The departing year marked numerous grand changes. USC’s enterprises gained invaluable experience and expertise, having expanded the range of their products

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Alexei L. Rakhmanov

President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation

P. 4 A FLEET OF A STRONG NATIONProtection of Russia’s interests in the world ocean

P. 5 315 YEARS IN SERVICE OF THE FATHERLANDAdmiralty Shipyards, St. Petersburg’s oldest shipbuilder celebrates its anniversary

P. 10 NORTHERN COLOSSUSSevmash, Russia’s oldest shipyard celebrates its 80th anniversary

P. 16 PRICING AND PRICE COMPETITION IN SHIPBUILDING Analysis of USC’s major indicators in the past five years

P. 18 ICEBERG PROJECTTechnologiesfor the explorationand extractionof hydrocarbonsin permanent ice zones

P. 22 SMALL CARRIER WITH A GREAT POTENTIALUrgency to designand build a relativelycompact carrier

P. 26 YAGRA’S SHIPBUILDERSZvezdochka’s history

P. 30 EXTRAORDINARY MISSIONS OF SPECIAL SHIPSZvezdochka’s endeavorto build Project 20180special purpose vessels,designed by the Almaz CentralMaritime Design Bureau

P. 32 NEW AGE OF SHIPBUILDINGSector’s globaldevelopment trends

P. 34 HIS SHIPSThe biography of GeorgyChernishev, an outstandingchief designer of St. Petersburg’sMarine Design Bureau "Malachite"

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Conquerors of iCe

60 years of the nuClear iCebreakerfleet

65th anniversary of russia's leading shipbuilder



GuidinGsTar

admiralty shipyards marks the 315th anniversary

p. 05

80 years of the grand projeCt sevmash

p. 10 p. 26

feature one

Magazine of the United ShiPBUiLding CoRPoRation

P. 38 SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH TO THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHEREComprehensive Antarctic Expeditionof the USSR Academy of Sciences

P. 44 TO THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NUCLEAR ICEBREAKER FLEETThe pride of Russia’s shipbuilding

P. 46 GRAVITY POLEA round table held in acknowledgmentof the 60th anniversary of the NuclearIcebreaker Fleet

P. 48 TIME TO COLLECT KNOWLEDGECorporate knowledge managementsystem in operation

P. 50 EMBASSY OF SHIPBUILDINGUSC’s Demonstration Centeron the premises of Patriot

P. 52 SHOWING RUSSIA STRONGInterview with artist Zinaida Yusova

JSC ‘USC’ JOURNAL. Circulation: 999 pieces Address: 115184, Moscow,Bolshaya Tatarskaya str. 11.

JSC ‘USC’ President: Alexei Rakhmanov. www.aoosk.ru Chief Editor: Aliya Karimova. Executive Editor: Maria Arsenieva. Design and layout: “KLIMOV DESIGN STUDIO”. Tel.: +7 (499) 740-60-18. www.klimov-design.ru

The opinion of authors may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.

Cover: Photos forthe collage sourced fromwww.shutterstock.com

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FUNDAMENTALSTRATEGIC SECURITY

Russian shipbuilders and naval officers clearly understand our goal, which is to set up a Navy featuring a well-balanced composition and cutting-edge equipment.

Several lines of development have been defined in the state arms program. The primary goals are to uphold proper combat potential of strategic naval nuclear forces by constructing the Borei-class ballistic missile submarines, as well as to build up the combat capability of general-purpose naval forces by making ships for ocean and sea (long- and short-range) operations. In addition, we must upgrade the ships that have a significant potential in these aspects, reinforce naval aviation with modern aircraft, and supply coastal missile systems to the Coastal Troops of the Russian Navy. It is also important to establish strategic non-nuclear deterrence forces, made up of ships carrying long-range precision weapons; modernize Navy bases; and ensure balanced supplies of armament and ammunition.

Close cooperation between the Navy’s supreme command and USC’s management largely predetermined successful accomplishment of a number of important objectives. For the first time, a strategic nuclear submarine successfully launched four Bulava ballistic missiles at the Kura range. The Russian Navy’s aviation and naval forces held the Ocean Shield exercise in the Mediterranean Sea. During the mastering of a deep-sea diving system, installed on state-of-the-art rescue ship Igor Belousov, rescue teams of the Pacific Fleet set another record of submergence depth. Finally, in 2017–2018, for the first time in modern Russian history, St. Petersburg saw the Main Naval Parade, which was reviewed by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It involved surface ships, submarines, and aircraft of all Russian fleets and the Caspian Flotilla.

Oceanographic research vessel Admiral Vladimirsky restored the practice of round- the-world voyages and performed large-scale studies of the World Ocean. Training ship Perekop, with cadets on board, performed a round-the-world voyage and sailed through the Arctic waters of the Northern Sea Route without icebreaker support.

The renewal of the Russian fleet keeps going quite intensively. Under the state arms program, the Navy is due to receive more than 180 warships. This year alone, the Navy is to receive dozens of combat ships and support vessels. The share of new and upgraded weapon systems in the inventory of the Russian Navy has also increased. And the total time in operation of ships and submarines has exceeded 5,000 operating days! This was achieved thanks to both the manufacturers of reliable naval equipment and those who operated it with superb professionalism.

In the current year, the priority for the Navy and the United Shipbuilding Corporation is to complete trials of dock landing ship Pyotr Morgunov, frigate Admiral Kasatonov, corvette Gremyashchy, and a series of mine countermeasure vessels.

The Navy command will continue to work hand in hand with defense companies on such projects as serial construction of large-displacement ships; improvement of the Project 1155 anti-submarine guided missile destroyers; and repair and refit of heavy nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov and aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.

Of course, the Navy will continue to keep an eye on the construction of the Project 636.3 submarines for the Pacific Fleet and the Lada-class submarines.

Continuous development of the fleet is a fair need, which has been proven by the entire history of Russia. For a country that has access to 12 seas and three oceans and whose maritime borders are twice as long as the land ones, it’s a must to maintain, build, and develop a Navy, which could defend its national interests.

The Russian Navy is a crucial element of the country’s national security system. In peacetime, it defends Russia’s interests in the World Ocean, maintaining military and political stability on global and regional levels. In wartime, it repulses the aggression coming from seas and oceans

A Fleet of a Strong Nation

VLADIMIR KOROLYOVUSC Vice-President,Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navyfrom 2016 through 2019, Admiral

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History is objective, it is its coverage and interpretations are subjective. But since facts are rather stubborn, here is an entry in the Log of Peter I’s Tours made by the royal member himself, “…1704, November. On the fifth day we laid down the Admiralty building, stretching 200 fathoms long and 100 fathoms across, went to Osteria and had fun there.” It is that day and 426.7x213.4m construction site on the left bank of the Neva that kicked off the history of St. Petersburg’s first industrial facility, the most adored brainchild of Peter the Great, who owes it to the Admiralty

Shipyard that his dream came true – Russian ships and vessels got free access to the sea.

ANNIVERSARYADMIRALTY SHIPYARDS

FUNDAMENTAL

>>

Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg is not just the city’s ‘younger brother’. Without the shipyards the city on the Neva would have never become,

what its founder, Peter the Great, had in his mind for it – the capital of the empire. Without ships and vessels floated out from Admiralty Shipyards Russia

would have not emerged a naval power

RENATA ZELENSKAYAcorrespondent, Admiralteets corporate newspaper

INSERVICE OF

THE FATHERLAND

YEARS

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GALLEYS, CRUISERS AND SECRET VESSELS

The first six years of its life the shipyard constructed small vessels, e.g. shnyavas, galleys, brigantines, etc. December 1709 witnessed the laying down of a battleship based on a royal drawing, the Poltava carrying 54 guns. The floating out of the first Russian ship suitable for blue-water navigation in 1712 marked a milestone in the development of the Russian Navy. One does not need a time machine to fathom the endeavor and its results. A trip to Lakhta’s historical shipyard will do, since an effort has been apace in the village for several years already to build a replica of the Poltava, based on the engineering and technological approaches in shipbuilding adopted 300 years ago. July 2019 became particularly memorable in the life of the modern twin sister-ship. No sooner did the Poltava moored at the English Quay in St. Petersburg as she set sails to join the parade on July 28, celebrating the Day of the Russian Navy.

In July 2018, the armored cruiser Dmitry Donskoy was located on the seabed. It landed a true sensation, covered by leading mass media agencies. The ship owes her fame not only to the fact, that she allegedly carried gold for the Pacific Squadron during the Russo-Japanese War. What matters for us, shipbuilders, is that she was laid down in May 1881 at New Admiralty Shipyard, whose full-fledged successor is today’s Admiralty Shipyards.

It is here as well that the Aurora cruiser was laid down six years later to take part in the Tsushima battle of the Russo-Japanese War, Great War, Civil War and ultimately the Great Patriotic War. It does not make much sense to speak at length about the meaning of her blank shot in October 1917. It changed the course of Russia’s history for years to come... The renovated exposition of the museum ship, returned from her overhaul to her permanent mooring site at the crossing

of the Petrogradskaya and Petrovskaya embankments, welcomes everyone, who wants to reminisce, fathom the present and think about the future.

Since their inception, the shipyards constructed 3,000 ships and vessels of various classes and categories. Among them are 400-plus submarines and deep-diving craft. Everything began with the secret vessel, proposed by a peasant, Yefim Nikonov, who demonstrated the invention to Peter I as the protracted Northern War drew to its end. However, 300 years ago, good fortune was

not kind to the inventor. The vessel was floated off three times, with every attempt to submerge resulting in her sustaining various damages. The recognition came far later: secret vessels – modern submarines – are a major specialization of Admiralty Shipyards today. Besides them, shipbuilders constructed at the facility 70 deep-diving craft and submersible vehicles. Today the enterprise, Russia’s conventional shipbuilding center, account for 1 percent of St. Petersburg’s gross product.

Admiralty Shipyards has always been in for projects outside of its main line of business, having a hand in shaping a special image of the city. It is here that scores of items were produced for various city sites, including cast-iron and metal suspension components for multiple bridges, e.g. the Bridge of Four Lions, Bank Bridge, Egyptian Bridge. All of them are still hallmarks of the city. Other places bearing the enterprise’s footprint are St. Isaac’s Cathedral, Alexander Column, as well as bleachers for public events in Palace Square.

Engineers, experts and men of Admiralty Shipyards created ships in various years, which became benchmarks in the Russian Navy. Among them is the 18-gun pram Gangut,

>>

In July 2018, located on the seabed was armored cruiser Dmitry Donskoy, constructed in May 1881 at New Admiralty Shipyard, whose full-fledged successor is today’s Admiralty Shipyards

Poltava battleship.Peter Pikart, engraving, 1717

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the first Russian battleship, constructed at the shipyard. Russia has always been known as a pioneer in shipbuilding. Attesting to this are the first-ever steamer Elizaveta, armored floating battery Do Not Touch Me, the first sea-going torpedo boat Vzryv (Russian for explosion), the first Russian all-metal, armored deck corvette-class cruiser Vityaz, which became the prototype of the squadron battleship Petr Veliky (Russian for Peter the Great) and others.

The Soviet era marked some remarkable breakthroughs as well, including the first-ever icebreaker Lenin, handed over to the Soviet Ministry of the Navy in December 1959, and the largest in the world fish-processing ship Vostok, constructed in 1971. Our readers will remember that during the Great Patriotic War Admiralty Shipyards continued building and repairing ships and vessels even when Leningrad was besieged. When stagnation, so much memorable to our veterans in shipbuilding, hit the industry, the shipyard took part in the construction of tracking ships Marshal Krylov and Marshal Nedelin, designed for the development of advanced missile and space systems.

HEAD ON TO THE ARCTIC

Admiralty Shipyards is now focused on the development of hi-tech ice-capable ships in the surface shipbuilding sector.

November 2017 saw the delivery of the conventional icebreaker Ilya Muromets to the customer, starting an Arctic group. Combining the capabilities of a tug, icebreaker and patrol boat, the ship has proven its worthiness over the 1.5 years that she has been in service, paving the way for ships in ice and taking part in tours of the Arctic group of the Northern Fleet.

Yet another multi-purpose ship is in construction at the shipyard today to further protect interests of the state in the Arctic, namely patrol icebreaker Ivan Papanin.

There has been a trend taking shape recently in the enterprise’s production profile of a growing share of commercial shipbuilding with a chance of reaching

40 percent in 2019. Attesting to this are two first trawlers for Russian Fishery Company laid down this year. These will become the first large fishing vessels produced in 30 years in Russia and our enterprise will take credit for it.

And these does not end the list, since April marked the beginning of another project, the construction of the ice-resistant self-propelled platform Severny Polus (Russian Northern Pole) went in full swing in the interest of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environment Monitoring (Rosgidromet). The research center based on the all-weather platform will perform year-round surveys in high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean.

RUSSIA’S FLAG SHIPBUILDER

This said, the submarine sector has always been the major line of business at the Admiralty Shipyards. Attesting to this is the fact that the Russian Ministry of Defense signed a contract with the shipyard for construction of two conventional Lada-class fourth-generation submarines (Project 677) at Army-2019.

Kronshtadt, a second submarine in the class, was floated out in September 2018. Last touches are made to her today, fine-tuning systems and equipment, while she makes her way through dockside trials. A third ordered submarine, Velikiye Luki, is at the phase of unit construction, having bulk equipment deployed in its >>

Already into the fourth century of its developmentAdmiralty Shipyards successfully combines experience

and modern technologies

ALEXANDER BUZAKOVDirector General,Admiralty Shipyards

“Admiralty Shipyards, parented by the United Shipbuilding Corp., is the oldest shipyard in our country. But I am a true believer in this notion that old does not mean dated. Having been in business for 3 centuries, the enterprise has gained enormous expertise; it is upgraded, retooled and confident in its future.”


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The icebreakerIlya Muromets, delivered

to the Russian Navy in November 2017,

performs her duties diligently as part

of the Arctic groupof the Northern Fleet

>> standard places. All boats are manufactured to the specifications revised in the wake of operational testing of the lead submarine.

The submarines received a deeply modernized ship machinery control system, electric propulsion system, and navigational suite.

In 2016, marking the 110th anniversary of the submarine fleet and 320th anniversary of the Russian Navy, the shipyard finished building six Project 636 boats for the Black Sea Fleet. The construction of one submarine takes about three years. These include trials and tests. However, some boats in the class were commissioned faster to enhance the Navy in solving tasks facing it.

In 2016, the Russian MoD placed an order with Admiralty Shipyards to build a Pacific series of six big Project 636 diesel submarines. While we are at the topic of the Pacific Fleet, it would not be out of order to mention another ship in its ranks, built at Admiralty Shipyards, namely the rescue vessel Igor Belousov. Autumn 2018 saw the first-ever in the history of Russia’s Navy diving operation, performed from the ship in a bell to a depth of 416m with subsequent walk on the seabed.

WALKING THE TECHNICAL PROGRESS PATH

Such outstanding breakthroughs in shipbuilding would have been far humbler but for the attention paid at the facility to retooling and production modernization. In the past five years, the shipyard made a significant leap forward.

The enterprise takes part in three projects already apace in this area, namely the federal earmark Development of the Defense Industrial Complex in 2011-2020, retooling plan, and the program for Acquisition of Equipment and Movement of Property of the Admiralty Shipyards from Novo-Admiralteysky Island (Russian for new admiralty).

However, the largest project so far has been the development of the shipyard’s building and commissioning shop into a closed-loop advanced system for construction and maintenance of conventional submarines, which will provide for a construction rate of four boats per year and broaden the capabilities of the shipyard in cutting construction and maintenance time. Also, commissioned have been a new metalwork and hull shop complete with a site for construction of titanium alloy items and a battery charging station. Work is in progress to build a laboratory test building, equip the cleaning, painting and special coating chamber, as well as retool and renovate machine-building sites.

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In spring 2015, a new pipe processing operation sprang to life, combining the whole technological cycle of pipe work, including tests, x-ray checks and storing, now provided on the premises of one building, which has a positive impact on the overall effectiveness. The new shop features an automated warehouse with a capacity of 90t for storing engineering items.

Another know-how adopted at the shipyard is a 3D modeling chamber for measurement of templates. It includes 16 video cameras to take measurements with great precision, which are visualized and fed to a CNC machine for final processing and bending of pipes.

Apart from this large-scale project for deployment of a system for construction of conventional submarines, provisions have been made for retooling other shops as well. The shipyard is busy today reconstructing the ventilation system of the building and commissioning shop and warehouse, as well as purchasing and deploying machines in production shops. Besides, the enterprise keeps moving its operation from Novo-Admiralteysky Island to improve logistics in the southern and central facilities, cut overhead costs and build up the production potential. This modernization endeavor does not affect the production operation, thus has no impact on the current obligations of the shipyard.

PHILOSOPHY OF SUCCESS

Industrial psychologists claim that the trademark style of an enterprise can tell one if not its fate but at least development routs of the facility. The abbreviated name of Admiralty Shipyards in Russian, AV, speaks loud and clear; it does not need to be explained. The 315-year long history attests to this. Since we live in an industrial age, it is essential to build a lean and straightforward system and have production operations focused on development and improvement.

The staple of success today and in the future is competitiveness and quality, high technologies, skills of the managing staff and qualification of the personnel. In 2017, an effort kicked off at the shipyard to implement a large-scale project for integration of a careful production approach under USC’s strategy. To this end, the shipyard selected the mast raising equipment (MRE) site of the machine-building operation for as the pilot facility.

Phase 1 required to cut overhead costs. For starters, it was required to locate tight spots, which paved the way to another 18 measures on the plan list. This resulted in that instead of 20 months previously earmarked for production of one MRE the operation needs only 16 months. Gain without significant funds is the desirable result of the careful production approach integration.

Then the program footprint expanded to the hull and special tool

production sites. In 2018, another four production development measures were implemented and 11 more were given the go-ahead. These encompass both production and business sectors. The measures have resulted in an aggregate gain of more than 143 mln. RUR.

It takes the whole staff to integrate new solutions and principles. At Admiralty Shipyards the process involves

personnel of various categories from a store keeper and auxiliary personnel to machine operators and site supervisors. Besides the operation sites, the careful production initiative requires participation of specialists with the technical and engineer centers, acquisition section, accounting office, and IT center.

Obviously, transition to a new labor system as any development measure is multiphased and complex. For the magical formula ‘Minimum Costs – Maximum Results’ to gain traction, much has to be done with every step taken in accordance with the plan, adjusted to the current situation. Thus, a lot of attention is paid to the training of the staff in the manufacturing and careful production basics, kicked off last year. Specialists with the Production Development Section, who received the training earlier, share their expertise with workers and engineers with due consideration of the specific nature of employment conditions in various sections and divisions of the shipyard of each person.

In the anniversary 315th year, apart from lectures and tours of a model site the staff have the opportunity to sign up for the interactive course ‘USC’s Production Systems Basics.’ Learning of theory is not what it is all about for it is essential to implement the received skills and knowledge in the production operation as well. The first run of the course this year will cover 1,500 personnel, while the next will have everybody trained in new manufacturing principles and approaches. Not least important is the fact that the mentors themselves never ceases training and broadening their professional competences. In March-June, the Admiralty Shipyards hosted a USC-sponsored training program for manufacturing system instructors. It was attended by 34 specialists from 14 enterprises of the corporation from the Amur and Khabarovsk

shipyards to Sevmash and Zvezdochka.

This year’s major task is to implement around 40 projects, achieving an aggregate economic impact of at least 500 mln. RUR. Part of them are already in progress while the others are being prepared.

THE AGE OF 315 YEARS

IS HONORABLE AND VERY FEW

ENTERPRISES CAN BOAST THAT THEY

HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LOG AS MANY YEARS IN RUSSIA’S HISTORY, LET ALONE CONTINUE THEIR DEVELOPMENT.

ADMIRALTY SHIPYARDS CAN.

Why? The answer is obvious. The shipyard is not just

about production buildings, equipment and technologies,

but first and foremost it is about people, dynasties of employees, united by

a common goal, traditions and fate. Well, then the age of any enterprise is determined by the age of people working there. Our shipyard is getting younger today. Attracted to this place are young and promising specialists with a patriotic and ambitious mindset. They will shape

the future, it is them, shipbuilders, who comprise the most precious asset of

Admiralty Shipyards. Indeed, our staff are fond of their job,

for their dear plant is their second home. They respect the shipyard’s older stairstep

brother, St. Petersburg, and continue doing what Peter I loved most, i.e.

development of the fleet of our great country, but already

in the 21st century.

Laid down in April 2019, the ice-resistantself-propelled platform Severny Polus(Russian for Northern Pole) is on track to signifyyet another step in the Arctic development


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ANNIVERSARYSEVMASH

COLOSSUSNORTHERN

YEKATERINA PILIKINAHead of the Information Service, Sevmash

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I am going through yellowed pages. All columns of Molotov’s newspaper Stalinets, released on December 21, 1939 speak about the 60th anniversary of the leader. Of course, there is not a single line about that grand present, which had been prepared for several years in conditions of extreme secrecy. For a moment, it was the grand project of the century.

Work was apace to build a giant plant, which according to the design equaled the capacity of all shipbuilding facilities in Leningrad put together and the fledgling Soviet country was so much desperate to

get for construction of military and commercial ships of all classes. Here in the North, amid limitless marshes grew Plant No. 402, later renamed to Northern Machine-Building Enterprise. The facility grew not by virtue of a miracle or supertechnologies (however, advanced equipment, unknown to other facilities in the country, was indeed committed to the project), but titanic, often yeoman’s labor of communists, best workers and Yagrinlag’s inmates. >>

December 21, 2019 will mark the 80th anniversary of Sevmash, Russia’s largest shipyard. Spread over hundreds of hectares, it builds and launches the largest and fastest

nuclear submarines, boasting the capability to dive deeper than any other counterpart in the word. This said, the facility takes more pride in its staff than anything else, since it is them who shaped

its glorious history

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MARSHES AND SEAS WILL STEP BACK!

Back in January 1936, the USSR Council of Labor and Defense decided to lay down a huge shipbuilding

plant in the vicinity of Arkhangelsk for construction of a powerful strategic fleet. What the country already had in Leningrad, Nikolaev and the Far East were too vulnerable to attacks due to geography should a war break out. The new place was perfect in this respect. At least the committee thought so. Perched on the shore in the estuary of the Northern Dvina was the Nikolo-Korelsky monastery of the 15th century, which sheltered builders when the project gained traction.

The location provided multiple opportunities. For starters, it had a direct access to the sea, which freezes ever so lightly, suitable for taking ships out for trials. Not least important was that Yagry Island protected the spot from the north. Finally, the place could be linked with the Isagorka station by a railway. Stalin approved the choice, noting the wisdom of old monks in picking places for erecting their buildings. The plant was supposed to spread over 300ha. The territory between the old house of God and the White Sea was flooded during tides. Ivan Kirilkin, heading the project, set major goals as follows: remove the peat cover to a depth of up to 0.5m and use sand to raise the plot to 3m above the sea, pave highways, and erect jetties, apartment and administrative buildings. “Marshes and seas will step back. We only need to put up a fight and stay steadfast. And sure as hell we will win!” later he wrote in his book The White Sea Colossus.

The inaugural ship, the Project 23 battleship Sovetskaya Belorussiya, was to be laid down in three years since Kirilkin’s appointment on December 21, 1939 to lead the construction of the facility. And this deadline, which Soviet authorities were resolved to make coincide with Stalin’s birthday, was binding for all and everybody. For those who dared defying the decision it was fraught with consequences. Kirilkin wrote the book for workers in an attempt to boost their morale, explain the task and ultimately meet the deadline. It was an easy thing to do by no means, since the construction site offered no basic conditions neither for living nor for work. Cold barracks, no amenities, lack of materials...

Here how Sergey Bogolyubov, who took over the enterprise during the war, described the place: “Tundra. Deep, at some places reaching 11m below the surface, limitless peat swamps. Not even a dry spot here. Everything has to be built on piles – houses, pavements, bridges to the houses. The whole place is flooded. Stoves planted on the floor, if not supported by piles, would submerge by a meter over a year. Plank roads everywhere, made from thick boards, would eventually end up buried in the peat and new boards would be laid down on top of them. I spent two-three years and four layers were already underground. The lack of forests and the polar sea make the right recipe for

permanent and rather strong winds. Smoke, bellowing from the tall pipe of the heat power plant, after it was finished, hugged the ground. Snow, stripped from banks and mounds, flew horizontally, covering a just scraped road with

a meter-thick layer. Roads turned into tranches in winter. There were no villages at all in the vicinity. As a rule, food was brought from outside, but covering only 50-70 percent of the military ration. A single-track railway was the only gateway to inhabited places. As for land routes, there were no paths, let alone roads.” Back to the pages of The White Sea Colossus and we are awed by descriptions of wide streets, the most advanced equipment in the entire Soviet Union, the plant to built powerful ships and city to become the most prosperous in the country’s North. But Kirilin was indeed a visionary. Time proved him right, despite the fact that the real situation, staff and equipment included, were unfavorable to say the least.

THE GREATEST IN THE WORLD

The job to design the shipyard was given to two dozen specialized organizations and institutions. The government enrolled the best hands of the country, including scientists, archaeologists, builders, etc. The project encompassed domestic and foreign experience in the area of construction of shipyards. As per the design, the giant plant spread over 7km was one-off both in the USSR and abroad. Sergey Bogolubov reminisced that Adm. Olson, then the U.S. Naval Attache, had visited the place during the war and said, “Your plant is the greatest in the world. We have no such giants in the U.S.”

But its construction set the USSR back quite a quid. According to Kirilkin, the aggregate total needed for the erection of the city and shipyard was 800 mln. RUR. For the sake of comparison, consider the price of the country’s largest machine builder of the time, the Stalin Plant in Novo-Kramatorsk, worth around 500 bln. RUR. Kirilkin had no illusions as for what a giant he and his workers had to erect. “A large plant is a huge city of various shops. These shops are huge buildings, spacious

>>

Flooring is apace in the Nikolo-Korelsky monastery,1936

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enough to house, for example, the village of Kudma, all its life stock, property, and people,” he wrote later.

Those who came to build the plant deserve special attention, for these people comprised in a sense the DNA of the shipyard and city. Before the war broke out it was obligatory for the shipbuilding facilities in the south and Leningrad, as well as on the Volga River to send workers of the 5th category and above, as well as engineers to the plant and city, taking shape in the North. The best of the Soviet intelligentsia ended in this place. Innokenty Bakhtin, a veteran of the plant, who arrived in one of the first groups at the place, notes in his recollections that heads of facilities stood out for their “depth and intelligence, as well as independence in decision-making, special attitude to work, and ability to summon every bit of their enormous skills and expertise to organize any task in conditions of the new plant, which not just started taking shape but was far away from industrial centers and plants of our country. We got a

truly powerful and qualified staff of workers and engineers, created by our leaders of turbulent characters, too demanding first and foremost for themselves.” People came from shipbuilding facilities, as well as the best workers, employed in the Arkhangelsk regions. The screening process was serious. Selected were only those, who had achievements in his records. Soviet people followed their heart, arriving bushy-tailed and bright-eyed to erect a new city on the marshy land. Let us not be fooled for there were few money-driven workers. Some plants were reluctant to let go their golden boys and figured out a loophole. They picked some of their 3rd and 4th category staff and promoted to the 5th category to send to the North.

Kirilkin and his people “fought the swamp” for a bit more than 2 years. May 1937 saw almost 10,000 people, toiling at the construction site. Their sacrifices and selfless contributions did not save the schedule from slipping 5-6 months. To expedite the process, Beriya, People’s Interior Commissar, intervened in May 1939. His office took over the construction entirely. Inmates were

brought in. Some sources suggest that their number reached 60,000. Kirilkin was relieved of his duties for failing to keep up with the schedule, accused of espionage and sabotage, and sentenced to a prison term. In 1942, he died in the Vyatsky Correctional Labor Camp.

The plant constructionwas making good progress,1939

A. Dolgikh’s invitation, requesting the honor of his presence at Shop 1-3 (today’s Covered Slipway No. 2) on December 21, 1939 for the plant commissioning ceremony >>

ANNIVERSARYSEVMASH

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ANNIVERSARYSEVMASH

MICHAEL BUDNICHENKODirector General, Sevmash

The 80-year threshold in the life of a shipbuilding enterprise is a watershed moment, telling us whether the facility has passed its test by time. In our history we were put through various periods to include the Golden Age of Shipbuilding and dramatic production decline. Our shipbuilders survived and emerged proud winners. Today in the run-up to our anniversary we are confident that Sevmash is facing a bright and solid future. The enterprise stands firm on the ground. Sevmash is one of the most advanced and largest shipbuilders in the country. The cradle of the first Soviet nuclear submarine, Sevmash remains unsurpassed in this job among other Russian facilities, since it has built 132 nuclear submarines, accounting for more than a half of the Russian submarine fleet. More than often we had to pioneer new approaches in this domain. We established a powerful school of thoughts, which is instrumental in solving tasks that the other Russian shipyards do not measure up to.In the past years the facility has gathered a good production pace. Sevmash demonstrates improvement of all major operational indicators. The profit is on the rise, as well as the labor efficiency, staff, and pay. We have been demonstrating stability in making more money in the past decade. This is attested to the growing backlog under the state armament procurement program. This gain allowed us not only to cover our earlier losses, but establish funds for production retooling and honoring the labor contract provisions, including those, governing the pay, healthcare, and social and cultural life. The year

2008 saw a 12-fold growth of Sevmash’s net assets. The pay grew 3.6 times in the past 11 years as a staff retention measure. The production capacity increased 1.6 times in 2013-2018. Our ranks grew by around 5,000 people during the period.The backlog that we already have will keep us busy for a decade. Today, Sevmash is building two units of Yasen-M- and Borey-A-class nuclear submarines, repairing a Project 11442M ship and maintaining nuclear submarines and off-shore ice-resistant stationary platform Prirazlomnaya. We are also engaged in the military and technical cooperation with India’s Navy on its aircraft carrier Vikramaditya and production of technical equipment and gear.Besides, we have made good progress in our modernization program. This is a crucial thing, when it comes to the implementation of future projects in the interest of the Navy or commercial customers. The main goal of the ongoing effort is to create a modern and competitive shipyard. We count on this to reduce production time and labor intensity, while stepping on the quality aspect, and put new items and accessories on our manufacturing list. One might call it a fourth technological revolution that Russia’s largest shipyard is going through now.

Nuclear submarine Alexander Nevsky

Nuclear submarine Vladimir Monomakh

Nuclear submarine Severodvinsk

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NEW SHIPBUILDING ERA

Among the items displayed in Sevmash’s museum is tiny invitation card No. 401. It requests the honor of Comrade Dolgikh’s presence at Shop 1-3 (today’s Covered Slipway No. 2) on December 21, 1939 at 14.00 for the plant commissioning ceremony. There is in fact no other evidence other than this slip of paper of that historical day, when the shipbuilding operation of the White Sea enterprise kicked off. The yet unfinished shop hosted the ceremony of laying down the battleship Sovetskaya Belorussiya, one of the largest ships in the Soviet Navy. Just think that she was the length of the world’s largest cruise ship Titanic. However, the Soviet battleship was wider abeam and displaced more as well. “I will always remember almost verbatim what Boris Kronov, heading the project, had to say,” wrote Mikhail Popov, Sevmash’s veteran. “Addressing us, still young people, in the wake of the ceremony, he said, ‘Here, youngsters! Years will pass and you might start grumbling what a poor job they did constructing the plant and city, those bastards...’ All of us got a good laugh then, dismissing his words and praising the endeavor, saying what a really good socialist city and huge plant had been erected and that our children would appreciate its true value.” And children did.

The facility was so expertly designed with so much wisdom that its modernization margin allowed for its reconstruction without stopping the operation. It survived three technological revolutions, which kept it relevant and suitable for construction of the most advanced ships, record-breaking submarines among them.

Plant No. 402 lived up to expectations. It is a proud recipient of five Soviet orders for the development of cutting-edge equipment and three highest awards of Russia. No other shipbuilder can boast that many decorations of the highest grade. Over its 80-year history, Sevmash was led

by 12 directors, all of them being solid professionals, who passed through all levels of their carriers. They always tried to benefit the plant, come hell or high water, performing state orders in the most critical conditions.

The state did the right thing, their stake paid off. The geography is good for the Nazis did not make it to Plant No. 402 and people have proved to be a true asset. People in the North are strong. There are no people who ended up here by chance for only those stay, who are resolved to make achievements. The 80-year history of the place offered them multiple chances for that.

During the war, when women and teenagers comprised the backbone of the staff. During the thriving years of the Soviet industry, when the scope of the nuclear submarine construction operation ran beyond imaginable. The shipbuilding history is by no means replete with cases of six nuclear submarines launched per year. These were grand and smart boats, which were instrumental for the USSR in gaining parity with the U.S. And does not the survival of the plant in the 1990s amount to a feat? Like many other establishments in the country Sevmash could have fallen into oblivion as well. But the major slipway of the country kept going. Its skillful leaders, who made emphasis on the production conversion, adoption of new aspects of operation and military and technical cooperation, prompted Sevmash to reveal its new shining facets.

STROLLING ON SEVMASH’S STREETS

29 thousand people walk on Sevmash’s streets to their work every day. The streets in the dreams of the first headman came true. Spacious, well maintained and clean shops are stuffed with powerful equipment; and of course, the place bustles with people. They are here extremely valuable assets. President Putin’s address at the ceremony of laying down the nuclear submarine Knyaz Vladimir in 2012 were to the point, “No other plant in the whole world has done so much for its country as Sevmash.” Perestroyka passed and the facility has recovered, living already a new life and getting a second wind, new dreams and resolve.

>>

SEVMASH.DRY FACTS:

1. Sevmash constructed and delivered to the Navy 172 submarines, including 132 nuclear and 40 diesel, putting itself ahead of any other shipyard in the whole world

2. Sevmash built record-breaking submarines, boasting the greatest operating depth, speed and size in the world. These records have not been broken by any other Navy in the world yet

3. Sevmash is Russia’s only shipbuilder awarded five orders. Even back in the days of the USSR the facility was considered the most advanced in terms of its capacity to adopt new technologies and control systems. During the Golden Age of Shipbuilding the facility launched 5-6 nuclear submarines per year

4. Covered slipway No. 4 of the building and commissioning shop (Shop No. 50) is the oldest facility on the premises, resting on larch piles. So spacious is the shelter that it can house 14 St. Basil’s Cathedrals

5. The Prirazlomnaya off-shore ice-resistant stationary platform, manufactured at the shipyard, is the only platform extracting oil on the Arctic shelf. It is as big as the Cheops pyramid in Giza, Egypt

6. The Vikramaditya aircraft carrier is the largest military ship ever exported by Russia. She develops a speed of 30 kt

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However, this quite impressive gain, amounting to 19-odd bln. RUR, notwithstanding,

the financial and economic indicators in shipbuilding from the point of view of return on revenue by all means paint a rather poor picture. Profitability averaged just 1.3 percent in the past five years.

The analysis of the problem, affecting the financial indicators of USC and all its subordinate enterprises, revealed a number of the most prominent issues in the sector.

Opening the list is pricing. A large chunk of USC’s income (let us not consider the foreign trade aspect with all its components of specific nature), coming from the state armament procurement program, is generated through cost-plus pricing. According to Decree No. 1465 of the Russian Government of December 2, 2017 ‘On the State Regulation of Prices

for Products, Delivered under the State Armament Acquisition Program,’ the profit margin breaks down as follows, 1 percent of contributed costs + 20 percent of the enterprise’s own expenses.

Hardly it is a secret that in shipbuilding shipyards contribute 30-35 percent to the manufacturing cost. This means that a shipyard can count on a margin revenue of 6-7 percent. However, in fact the manufacturer gets less, putting the undertaking on the profitability threshold.

This falls short of the target even to think of investing into the modernization of the operation and often does not cover the suppliers’ cost build-up risks. Thus, when it comes to implementation of the state armament procurement program, the head contractor bears full and undivided responsibility for the quality of components, as well as failures to timely supply the required amount of items, taking on itself

PRICING AND PRICE COMPETITION IN SHIPBUILDINGIt is a pleasant thing to note that USC’s financial and economic indicatorsover the past five years suggest that the consolidated revenue jumped by 40-plus percent from 237.2 bln. RUR to 336.3 bln. RUR, IFRS reports

ALEXANDER NEYGEBAUERVice President for Economics and Finance, USC

№3 (39) 2019 USC / 17

all risks, triggered by changes in the microeconomic environment of Russia, since the major job of the enterprise is a long-term manufacturing operation.

The current pricing system in shipbuilding has failed to encourage manufacturers to improve labor efficiency and operation output. It has long been overdue to amend the situation by creating real labor efficiency stimulating mechanisms and integrating innovative solutions. This said, it is worth factoring in internal capacities of enterprises with due account of modernization and production diversification issues.

USC’s enterprises are run in different conditions of price competition. A comparative analysis of generation of manufacturing costs at shipbuilding facilities in Russia’s Far North, as well as other areas, where similar conditions prevail and equal operations run in western and central Russia, indicated a range of reasons, denying the former the ability to take part in the armament procurement program on par with the latter.

Apart from the geographic factor, including the distance to the ship equipment and material manufacturing centers, as well as unfavorable climatic conditions, the far eastern enterprises have to shoulder a heavier social security burden under federal laws, dictating that those employed in far northern areas and other zones with similar conditions are entitled for extra guaranties and compensations in the form of allowances, extra vacation days, etc. Being part of

manufacturing costs as per laws and regulations, these result in a price tag higher than that pinned to equal products constructed in western districts of Russia.

The burden that shipbuilders in Russia’s Far North, as well as other such areas have to shoulder, particularly guaranties and compensations, which have to be extended to the employees, automatically puts them in unfavorable conditions, when it comes to tenders and trade competitions.

To render competitive conditions of the enterprises engaged in the shipbuilding sector equal, it is essential to consider granting price benefits in state procurement programs similar to those

enjoyed by the facilities catering to the needs of the penitentiary system and organizations of people with disabilities, amending laws and regulations governing the state procurement contracts accordingly.

ESSENTIALSHIPBUILDING ECONOMICS

IN SHIPBUILDING SHIPYARDS CONTRIBUTE 30-35 PERCENT TO THE MANUFACTURING COST. THIS MEANS THAT A SHIPYARD CAN COUNT ON A MARGIN REVENUE OF 6-7 PERCENT

THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC INDICATORS IN SHIPBUILDING FROMTHE POINT OF VIEW OF RETURN ONREVENUE AREMODEST AT BEST

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In 2015-2018, the Rubin Design Bureau led an effort implementing its project Development of Underwater (Under-ice) Seabed Mining Technologies for the Arctic Zone, dubbed Iceberg. It encompassed

multiple initiatives and researches aimed at designing technologies and assets, providing full-fledged subsea extraction of oil and gas in permanent ice zones.

POWER SUPPLY

For starters, it is an underwater power facility to power mining and extraction equipment.

Designed in a concerted effort with the Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering, the nuclear power plant is consistent with the IAEA nuclear safety regulations and comprised of an autonomous unmanned underwater

PROJECT

ICEBERG

Heavy ice conditions, including hummocks, low temperatures,strong winds, etc., come in the way of the developmentof hydrocarbon deposits in the most part of the Arcticbasin. Meanwhile, deployment of current surfacetechnologies faces multiple difficulties, particularlyin permanent ice zones. Technologies with suchcapabilities are very much sought after, since theywill grant Russian companies an edge

EVGENY TOROPOV Chief designer, Rubin design bureau

№3 (39) 2019 USC / 19

facility, combining one or several modules engaged simultaneously to carry the load. The module boasts a useful output of 16mW with provisions made for an increase to 25mW.

The reliability of the unmanned facility without checks and maintenance throughout the entire operating period is provided by using an integral reactor, boasting a full-fledged natural circulation of the primary circuit coolant throughout the entire range of power output, and cassette-

type core, reducing the number of auxiliary systems and gear, as well as by integrating highly-automated control and radiation and technological monitoring systems.

UNDERWATER DRILLING

Second, the researchers looked into the issue of drilling vertical, slant and horizontal test pits and development wells.

MADE IN USCSUBSEA HYDROCARBON EXTRACTION

Iceberg’s underwater systems

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To this end, Rubin approached the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas. Their team came up with a solution based on a remote drilling technology with the telemetry transmitted to shore-based control posts. The adopted architecture of the future drilling system includes several independent modules: underwater drilling, drilling fluid and cement slurry preparation, drilling mud cleaning, control, power supply and communication, as well as removable cartridge storing.

The solution implies the use of an open, unsheltered drilling unit. The equipment of the underwater drilling system is not sealed and operates under the excess pressure. The job to develop the drilling equipment, gear for tripping operations and systems for storing, transporting and feeding pipes and pipe tools was again given to the Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering.

Provisions have been made to provide for replacement of equipment and gear in all modules, when they are already deployed and in operation. To hedge risks of developing an emergency during drilling operations, the designers adopted a continuous drilling approach

with uninterrupted drilling mud circulation.

They also were thoughtful enough to use drill fluids and cement slurry

based on liquid components.During the underwater drilling

system project, the St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University combined efforts with the Kurchatov Institute to develop a virtual simulating model, offering calculations of the system operation in various operating conditions. The technology is instrumental in getting the required expertise and knowledge by the time the system goes into production

and ultimately operation, thus, reducing costs related to manufacturing and

testing various mockups.

3D SEISMIC SURVEY

Another aspect covered in the project

is the development of underwater

seismic survey system, providing

various surveys and researches, from 2D

areal to more detailed 2D-3D and to 4D monitoring, in any

conditions and seasons, regardless of the sea state.

A number of recent researches conducted by different companies suggest that in conditions of winter and thick ice fields developed over years traditional seismic survey ships are almost useless. Even in the ice-free part of the Barents Sea winter operations

are impeded by the sea state, fog, icing of the ship and mounted

Seismic survey technology,based on autonomous unmannedunderwater vehicles

THE ICEBERG PROJECT ENCOMPASSESMULTIPLE INITIATIVES AND RESEARCHES AIMED AT PROVIDING SUBSEA EXTRACTION OF OILAND GAS IN PERMANENT ICE ZONES

Underwatertransportation, installation,

and maintenance system

№3 (39) 2019 USC / 21

equipment, as well as short daylight hours and polar night conditions.

To this end, the designers offered an underwater seismic survey system of a submersible platform based on a nuclear submarine and towed seismic streamers, as well as self-sustained seabed stations and streamers, and seismic wave emitters. Besides, the system would include TV-controlled vehicles, deploying and collecting survey assets.

In a concerted effort with the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Rubin figured out a new 3D survey technology conducted from a nuclear submarine. It stipulates deployment of short streamers to set up a 100x100m self-registering space array. For this, the submarine would carry retractable bow- and stern- mounted wings comprising turning surfaces for automatic deployment of streamers. Besides, provisions have been made for reeling off a long streamer for 2D surveys.

For seabed surveys, the Experimental Design Bureau of Oceanological Engineering, a branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, rendered its assistance in designing options for deployment and collection of seabed seismic stations and streamers from the bottom.

The system based on various seabed seismic survey assets is stowed aboard a submersible vehicle in pressurized floodable tubes.

As part of the initiative, the designers considered a survey technology, stipulating equipment of tubes with survey kits strapped onto unmanned underwater vehicles.

Prompted by the Iceberg project, Rubin suggested a flexible seismic survey technology based on the employment of a group of autonomous underwater vehicles providing for a variety of under-ice survey options both on the seabed and in water layers.

Such system is suitable for deployment from an ice-capable surface carrier as well.

TRANSPORT AND SERVICE

Another subproject was aimed at developing an underwater system for transportation, installation, and maintenance of underwater oil and gas extraction systems in heavy ice conditions.

Basically, it is a submersible twin-hull vehicle. Its cargo bay is fitted between the hulls and connecting them crossbars. The sails towering over both hulls house cargo lifting mechanisms facing the cargo bay. All technical solutions have been patented in Russia.

For the main propulsion adopted have been two steering pods, providing required maneuverability, particularly at low speeds. Positioning and stabilization when the main propulsion idles is achieved by employing retractable fully-articulated pods and vertical thrusters.

The architecture may come in handy for a wider range of missions, to include seismic surveys, collection of oil products below ice or nodules from seabed for that matter.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

Finally, the designers did not leave unattended the safety and security aspect, either. The solution came in the form of a comprehensive safety and security system. It will provide safe operation of underwater oil and gas extraction systems in remote Arctic regions. It has been shaped by three major safety and security aspects of operations of underwater installations. First comes the issue of industrial safety provided to the extent of monitoring technical status of the equipment, technological procedures, ice situation and ground condition. Then it is ecological safety that also needs attention. It encompasses monitoring of environment, as well as checks for process fluid leaks and hydrocarbon emissions. And finally, unlawful interference with the operations of underwater systems is an issue that calls for special countermeasures.

All technical solutions adopted for underwater systems are patented in Russia.

MADE IN USCSUBSEA HYDROCARBONEXTRACTION

Deployed drillingmodule of the underwater drilling system

Underwater autonomous unmannedpower plant module (interior)

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The most advanced amphibious ship in Russia is Project 11711. The lead ship Ivan Gren was commissioned last year, while the first production ship, Peter Morgunov, undergoes her trials. She is

expected to join the ranks of the Navy in 2019. The lead ship was laid down at the Yantar shipyard

in December 2004. At first planed as a series of six ships, Project 11711 took shape in conditions of the lack of

a united opinion as for what amphibious ship the Russian Navy needed, which led either to controversies over French Mistrals, designed to commercial specifications, thus falling short of becoming true combat ships, or serious changes to the specifications of the Russian design. Even the concept of deployment of the future ship has not been left intact, either. As the construction was already in progress the project was amended in terms of the weapons, radio-electronic equipment and tactical and technical characteristics. The protracted construction precipitated the desire to save money and cut the building time. This led to the decision to reduce the class to two ships.

SMALL CARRIERWITH A GREAT POTENTIALNot in a very distant past the USSR possessed one of the most potent amphibious fleet in the world. Today, Russia’s Navy does have a serious number of big landing ships, however the youngest of them, Korolev, is 28 years old. Almost all of the ships have come of age, are obsolete and their replacement has long been overdue. Besides, an issue has been raised multiple times to get for the Navy amphibious ships carrying helicopters. Russia still lacks such ships

TRENDSUTILITY LANDING SHIP

DMITRY KUROCHKINPhD in Engineering,Head of the Foreign Economic Activity Sector,Severnoye Design Bureau

Continued from No. 1 (34), 2018

The flag shipof the Italian Navy

Cavour

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On the plus side of this unique, albeit rather controversial, project is the fact that she carries two Ka-29 helicopters. However, one has to factor in that they are arranged one after the other for the main hangar, accommodating only one helicopter, features a folding section, extended towards the landing pad. This means that lengthy flight preparations and post-flight maintenance come in the way of operating both helicopters simultaneously.

The results of trials and operational performance tipped the scale in favor of building another two ships in the class. In April 2019, during the laying-down ceremony of the 3rd and 4th ships, USC’s President Alexei Rakhmanov noted that they would be built to amended specifications. Though, this did not result in changes in the project index.

With no claim to be a zealot of our military science or naval tactician and strategist for that matter, I would like to voice general thoughts on the future amphibious ship of the Russian Navy.

Obviously, the Navy needs both big amphibious platforms, possessing the capabilities of Ivan Gren, and smaller ships, air-cushioned landing craft (LCAC), and ground-effect aircraft, which will inevitably enter another development loop.

But since the goal is to reestablish a blue navy, fit to shoulder the burden of being one of the key tools for solving Russia’s geopolitical tasks, we need to abandon the path of bringing back though adapted to the requirements of the 21st century, but already classic platforms. It is worth starting from studying the world experience, applying it to our goals and tasks, and then designing and building a larger and more expensive utility platform, a relatively small amphibious aircraft carrier, boasting enormous capabilities.

It has long been proven, that in modern combat conditions the ship-to-shore maneuver is an unthinkable thing to do without aviation support and cover or vertical envelopment tools delivering troops or sabotage teams to the enemy’s rear or flanks.

Thus, one may suggest that in conditions of the lack of full-fledged aircraft carriers, the role of the most combat-capable, mobile and advanced operational units of Russia’s Navy can be assigned to marine expeditionary combat groups, built around amphibious aircraft carriers, housing in their hangars not only equipment and marines, but transport and attack helicopters, and light attack aircraft and fighters as well. It is them, not troop transports like the Mistral, that the Russian Navy needs for conflicts based on the scenario of the five-day war in South Ossetia or projection of power to any point of the world ocean.

At some point in the future, this groups will be enhanced by attack FW drones. At this phase, UAVs cannot do much and are used primarily to suppress the AD of an enemy, as well as engage targets, whose positions have been fixed beforehand. Capable of attacking threats, they perform more of a combat support (CS) role, similar to that of land attack cruise missiles.

But it was our country that pioneered high-performance disposable anti-ship UAVs. That is exactly what Russia’s supersonic heavy anti-ship operational missiles are. The transfer of the on board “intelligence” of these weapons from a disposable to reusable unmanned platforms should not become much of a challenge. It would not be completely out of place to mention the first Soviet space unmanned vehicle Buran, performed its famous flight 30 years ago in 1988. Thus, we have grounds to hope that in the end Russia will get advanced drones, capable to fly missions like CAS, A2/AD, air supremacy, dogfight, etc., provided the government extends support and grants sufficient funds for their development.

Ivan Gren LSD –the most advanced

amphibious shipin the Russian Navy

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Before we get “smart” UAVs, the aviation component of carriers will keep manned aircraft, dictating that flight decks should have a ramp at the bow to assist their take-off. Besides, drones will allow to reduce the ramp on flight decks, which is a good sign, given that these places are notorious for being extremely congested. Its length will be far shorter compared to the conventional 90m ramp, also because drones can be exposed to higher loads unlike their manned counterparts.

Still on the table are a number of critical issues to be resolved by military scientists. For one thing, it has not yet been considered whether to have a dock bay and landing craft, as well as to endow the ship with the capability to launch landing vehicles afloat.

When constructing their Cavour, the Italians had to cut corners, turning a full-fledged carrier into a sea transport, carrying equipment and marines. Unlike her, Trieste, a more advanced utility amphibian, boasts broader true landing capabilities.

The Spanish, well aware of the fact that a bay results in a more complex design of the ship, higher price tag, lower survivability, reduced useful capacity, etc. went for the trade-off, getting a full-fledged bay

for their Juan Carlos I, housing four standards LCMs (landing craft, medium), at the same displacement that Italian Cavour has.

The likelihood is that anything larger than a bay for four SP lighters or two LCACs will not fit into a ship of medium displacement, let alone her role as a full-fledged aircraft carrier. Thus, her landing

options will remain poor at best.Given the number of the landing party the ship carries

(a battalion-sized marine unit) along with their heavy equipment, the four lighters will have to make several runs each to land them all to an unprepared beach.

Thus, this number of landing craft is far from being sufficient for a full-fledged landing assault, if the carrier is forced to act alone. Her transport helicopters will not make the situation much better. After a beachhead is secured, other tasks facing the ship ranges from logistics support of the landed party, landing of the main body of troops, their deployment, to evacuation of

casualties, and finally to expansion of the footprint to the operational scale.

It calls for a question about the role and place of such an amphibious platform in the Russian Navy.

Obviously, her size, let alone price and possible role of the flag ship or command ship of a group, will deny her the ability to land the first wave of troops. This job will go to far cheaper and less complex platforms, capable to land afloat after getting as close as possible to the shore line. LSTs come to mind first.

THE NAVY NEEDS BIG AMPHIBIOUS PLATFORMS AND SMALLER SHIPS, AIR-CUSHIONED LANDING CRAFT AND GROUND-EFFECT AIRCRAFT

French Mistral amphibious assault ship in the harbor of Toulon. This class of ships can perform four mission profiles,namely landing of motorized units, operation and maintenance of combat helicopters, C2 and hospital ship. The ship can house at any given moment

16 NHI NH90 utility helicopters or Eurocopter Tiger gunships, 4 landing craft, up to 70 combat vehicles, including 13 AMX56 Leclerc MBTsor a tank battalion, comprising 40 Leclercs and 450 troops. The ship features a hangar covering 1,800m2.

Utility landing shipJuan Carlos, featuringan aircraft ramp

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But there are also LCACs and ground-effect aircraft, whose deployment is dictated by the surf conditions.

The future amphibious carrier has to be adapted for a different set of missions. The most critical ones are C2 of a combined-arms team (expeditionary marine unit), establishment and maintenance of superiority in the landing area, aviation support of the landing party and air cover of other ships, logistics support of the landed troops, evacuation of casualties, landing of follow-up troops, etc.

A rather controversial issue today is the worthiness of the so-called over-the-horizon, ship-to-shore maneuver. It provides for landing amphibious equipment outside the visual range of the enemy.

Well, one has to admit that the concept in modern conditions sounds beautiful, glamorous if you will, but its effectiveness is doubtful. Countries, possessing a powerful air force and modern missile and artillery systems, will be able to mess up even a stand-off landing operation. On the other hand, if the enemy’s shore defenses have been suppressed from air and ship artillery has gained air superiority, the over-the-horizon concept becomes useless.

Some thoughts have to be given to the ship armament as well. Nobody questions the necessity to equip her with self-defense assets, i.e. AA guns/missiles and SAMs. However, whether to have MLRS and artillery mounts is still an open issue today even when it comes to arming a huge amphibious ship, which is expected to fight close to the shore, exposing herself to direct fire of the opposing forces.

Given the availability of attack helicopters and support ships, the likelihood is that the job of suppressing emplacements and engaging armored targets to include those in covered positions, will end up on their plate. Meanwhile, MLRS and artillery mounts, their magazines and control posts included, will strip the ship of her precious space and drive the cost up in exchange for a rather dubious gain.

Another controversial issue in the design of the new ship is the choice of the main propulsion and top speed. Recently, the scales started tipping in favor of moderate speeds in the designs of capital surface ships. Top speeds are traded off for more crucial aspects, namely economic operation, maintainability and lower operating costs. Thus, diesel or diesel-electric options fit the bill perfectly well.

MAJOR CHARACTERISTICSOF THE FUTURE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP

ROLE:

C2 ship of a combined-arms team,flag ship of an expeditionary combat unit

PROJECTION OF POWER TO THE LANDING AREA

AVIATION SUPPORT OF LANDING OPERATIONSAND AIR COVER OF SHIPS

RECONNAISSANCE AND ENGAGEMENTOF ENEMY’S PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENTON THE SHORE

LOGISTICS SUPPORT OF COMMITTED TROOPS

EVACUATION OF CASUALTIES

LANDING OF FOLLOW-UP TROOPSTO A SECURED BEACHHEAD

Aviation architecture: a monolithic flight deck complete with a ramp with provisions made for retrofitting a short catapult for drones

Aircraft wing, comprised of attack and transport helicopters, aircraft, and future FW attack drones

Hangar for aircraft

Bay for Serna or Dugon landing craft, as well as future LCACs

Additional BK-16 landing boats

No provisions made for launching equipment afloat (no bow shelldoors or other systems), as well as performing over-the-horizon landing

Self-defense systems – AA guns/missiles and mid-range SAMs

No MLRS and general-purpose medium artillery

Enhanced medical capabilities for humanitarian missions and treatment of casualties when deployed in her primary role

Advanced radars and electronic equipment for C2 tasks and EW assets

Relatively low speed of 19-21Kt

Economic propulsion – diesel or diesel-electric

Fit for deployment in northern latitudes, given Russia’s expanding footprint in the Arctic

Suitable for loading modular weapons and special equipment in standard shipping containers

TRENDSUTILITY LANDING SHIP

The Juan Carlos l-61 utility landing ship takes partin an exhibition on the Day of the Spanish Armed Forces

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The plant had to be built in the field from scratch In 1947, Yagry Island had only an unfinished dry dock, compressor plant and concrete plant facilities, whose construction had started back in 1939 in the interest of Plant No. 402, known today as Sevmash, but later

abandoned since they were no longer needed. First thing first, constructors started dredging the area, for the marshy land needed to be lifted by a couple of meters. The construction of first installations of the future facility required around two million m2 of sand.

“Marsh, mud, we literally grabbed little snipes bare handed. We rolled up trousers and off we went trudging through the mud.

Yes, it took some effort to build our plant,” later reminisced Boris Nevolin, a senior engineer in permanent construction, one of the original team employed to erect Plant No. 893.

Time was running short, for Deputy Minister of Shipbuilding of the USSR Nikolay Panchenko was very clear in his recommendations to Director Safronov to launch the operation in 1954. They had three years to go.

This time had to be used to accomplish an enormous job, which included construction of a shallow waterfront, tool and pipe shop, deployment and commissioning of machines and equipment, staffing, reconstruction of the bridge over

Plant No. 893, renamed to Zvezdochka in 1966, was among the first shipyards established in the wake of the Great Patriotic War. The place for

the future leading ship repair establishment in Russia was picked by a committee led by Timofey Safronov out of six options. A legend himself, he was named

the first director of the shipyard. He witnessed the birth of Zvezdochka and commissioning of its first orders

ANDREY MIROSHNIKOVPublic relations officer with the SRC Zvezdochka

YAGRA’SSHIPBUILDERS

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ANNIVERSARYSRC ZVEZDOCHKA

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the Nikolskoye estuary, as well as erection of the first apartment buildings.

The task was accomplished. On July 1, 1954, after the commissioning of the assembly shops, installation No. 12 (known today as Shop No. 9) and shallow waterfront, the new plant went into operation. The inaugural order was the icebreaker Pronchishchev converted to the PZK-61 barracks ship. Then the plant received for maintenance two Project 122A ASW ships and an S-101 9-bis series submarine.

This shaped the major principle of Plant No. 893, to which the establishment remains true through this day, namely hardship and difficulties notwithstanding, all obligations shall be met timely and quality provided, while taking every effort to build up expertise and gain experience to climb to a higher level of operation.

THE DAWN OF THE ATOMIC ERA

Just five years into its operation and the USSR Council of Ministers decreed in 1959 that the establishment had to take up providing dock overhaul and modernization of nuclear submarines. In practice it meant complete retooling, erection of new shops and installations, let alone introduction of technologies never used here before and curbing new expertise and skills. Director Grigory Prosyankin once recalled that this had been the first real challenge testing maturity of the plant.

And again, time was a factor. We worked four shifts through months disregarding weekends. Many operations – two-story docking, installation of launchers and others – were unique. Suffice to say that the plant received its first nuclear submarine, K-33, on November 6, 1962. The year 1964 saw the completion of the maintenance and reequipment of the submarine to the Project 658M specifications complete with the deployment of a new underwater launcher (delivered by Evgeny Kolodochkin). The boat was back in the ranks of the Navy. On her way back to the home port, she was accompanied by the K-11, a Project 627A torpedo submarine also fresh from maintenance (delivered by Vladimir Semenov).

For the shipbuilders it was not just a labor victory, for the moment marked the certification of Plant No. 893 as the major facility for maintenance and modernization of nuclear submarines.

It would not be out of order to thank Sevmash, which was generous to send teams of its specialists for assistance. Working shoulder to shoulder with constructors of submarines, who also were good at repairing nuclear-powered boats, Yagry’s shipbuilders took in every piece of experience. In essence the plant turned into a huge training center, where on-the-job training was received by all and everyone, from a rank and file employee to the director.

ONE ICEBREAKER – TWO DESIGNATED DELIVERY PERSONS

Gained knowledge, expertly organized operation, prompt and creative responses to new challenges paved the way for yet another accomplishment, repair of Lenin, the first-ever nuclear icebreaker in the whole world. The pride of the Soviet fleet needed to have her old power plant replaced with a new twin-reactor system, the OK-900. One might guess already that for this extremely complex on many counts, technologically and scientifically, and responsible task the USSR Council of Ministers allowed disproportionately little time, two and a half years. The icebreaker had to be delivered by Lenin’s centenary.

In the evening of December 12, 1967, the ship moored at Yagry Island’s southern bank and the work went in full

swing. The shipbuilders faced an enormous task of adding 220 rooms to the ship’s current 678 spaces and compartments, deploying 6,200 pieces of new equipment, laying 200km of electric cable and 50km of pipes of various diameters.

Committed to these were 1,000 personnel simultaneously. This does not include specialists, arrived from 37 partner enterprises from all over the USSR to assist them. Those who failed to accomplish his daily task worked extra hours.

That fact that there were two designated delivery persons assigned to the job attest to the importance of the project. Within the shipyard the responsibility lied with William Kalganov, while Zvezdochka’s Director Grigory Prosyankin reported to Minister of the USSR Shipbuilding Industry Boris Butoma.

Think of the enormous scope of operations, scores of unique solutions developed at the facility. Already titled Zvezdochka, since the plant changed its name in 1966, was indeed borne to make impossible things over and over again.

On April 21, 1970, at 23.30 the nuclear power plant went operational, signifying the accomplishment of the mission. On June 20, an acceptance certificate was signed aboard the icebreaker. The next day found the ship, new heart beating in the hull, on her first Arctic cruise.

This endeavor and selfless labor earned dozens of employees orders and medals; a golden star of the Hero of Socialist Labor became a proud addition to the jacket of the Zvezdochka’s director, while the facility was awarded the highest decoration of the USSR, the Order of Lenin.

FOUR NUCLEAR SUBS PER YEAR

In the early ‘70s, the enterprise continued broadening its expertise. It built and commissioned new sites in shops 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 15, 41 and some other areas, as well as a ship-lifting suite, combining a launching dock, transporter bridge, and covered slipway. Technologies did not escape the trend either, and the footprint of the flow-line approach kept growing with modular maintenance being phased into it.

In late 1962, Zvezdochka received two Project 667A strategic missile submarines, K-26 and К-216. Both are much more complex in terms of automated processes, radioelectronics and weapons than anything the facility had had to deal before. If they wanted to become successful in repairing second-generation submarines,

SERGEY MARICHEVDirector General,SRC Zvezdochka

Zvezdochka’s hallmark has always been its resolve to evolve. The facility laid down unique engineering and production groundwork for development, integration and construction of marine propulsion systems. Zvezdochka switched from maintaining the submarine fleet to providing complex repairs of surface cruisers. Having become the leader in Russia’s ship repair sector, the enterprise pursues the shipbuilding path as well, launching complex and technology intensive, versatile ships of Project 20180, participating in the construction of off-shore platforms, and introducing additive technologies.

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the staff needed to create an effective tandem of production

and science. To this end in 1974, the USSR Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry issued an order turning Zvezdochka’s design bureau into the Onega research and development technological bureau. One article does not offer much space to include all breakthrough solutions, developed and adopted by shipbuilders in the whole history of the facility. Suffice to say that many of them had ‘first-ever’ etched into their description. Naturally so, for come whatever order, it was assigned to a team of like-mined professionals, which remains true even today.

All operations on the K-26 and K-216 were finished in 1975, making Zvezdochka the first facility in the industry, certified for maintenance and repair of second-generation submarines.

The pace of construction of the Soviet nuclear submarine fleet, its intensive deployment and thus the need to maintain a high availability rate were instrumental in boosting the facility to a leading position in the country’s naval maintenance and repair sector. It is not fortuitous that in its special decree the USSR Council of Ministers set before

Zvezdochka a task of maintaining at least four subs per year. In 1981, the shipyard achieved the prescribed rate, having finished maintenance and reequipment of five nuclear submarines, namely K-104, K-86, K-241, K-385, and K-279, all of them belonging to various classes, Projects 675, 675MK, 667AU and 667B.

AKSON AND YET ANOTHER AKSON

Zvezdochka does more than just repair and maintenance of ships and nuclear submarines, it extends their service life, literally breathes new life into them, saturating them with advanced systems and equipment, boasting far better tactical and combat performance. Some of its clients are converted into testbeds for cutting edge equipment and state-of-the-art systems. The K-403 strategic submarine (renamed to Kazan in 1997) was among those, who followed this path.

The Project 667А submarine moored at the shipyard in 1980, where she arrived to get stripped of her missile system under START-1. She would spend three years to emerge a different platform, converted to Project 667AK Akson-1 for testing the most advanced sonar system of the Project 971 third-generation submarine. In fact, the task was akin to building a new ship. For starters, it turned out that the equipment of the first six compartments had to be removed and rearranged completely. The scope of the endeavor and range of problems to be solved is evident in the fact the USSR Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry and Navy jointed efforts to establish a special operational

group. The deadline was met. Having tested the future sonar, the submarine was surrendered to science. Various research facilities and design bureaus jumped at the opportunity to give their equipment and systems a run in real conditions. Again, the job to deploy them for tests was given to skillful shipbuilders of Zvezdochka.

In 1990, the experiment of turning the KS-403 into a testbed was revisited. This time the submarine had to be converted to the specifications of Project 09780 for Rubin’s advanced sonar. But other bureaus and institutes also delivered their electronic equipment prototypes, developed for the fourth-generation Boreys and Yasens. Besides, the testbed came in handy for trials of some architectural elements of the future submarines. Assisted by Sevmash, in this project Zvezdochka’s team scored yet another victory.

DOLPHINS, PIKES AND MANY OTHERS

Top on the list of tasks of the ship repair center has always been maintenance of availability of Russia’s nuclear submarine fleet. In 1999-2012, the facility repaired and modernized a unit of Project 667BDRM SSBNs. The submarines, dubbed Delfins (Russian for dolphins), comprise the backbone of Russia’s strategic nuclear triad.

Today, Zvezdochka is busy putting Delfins through a second cycle of dock repair to extend their service life. As part of this effort, the facility sent the Tula SSBN to her home port in 2017.

In 2006, the Center took up repairing and modernizing third-generation Anteys (Project 949A) and Shchuka-Bs (Project 971). However, submarines do not make the complete list of jobs that keep the facility busy. There are surface ships in it as well, namely Besstrashny (Russian for dauntless, renamed to Admiral Ushakov in 2004), a Project 956 destroyer, and Marshal Ustinov, a Project 1164 missile cruiser.

Every job being unique, it prompts new and original engineer and technical solutions, broadens expertise and boosts qualification. It is not just an ordinary repair operation, but rather a contribution to the solid groundwork for future endeavors. For example, having pioneered the repair of Admiral Ushakov, the shipyard now has an edge should her stablemates, including ships in the navies of friendly nations, come to need a similar job done on them.

It is noteworthy that the Center has been providing service maintenance and engineering supervision of the ships and vessels assigned to the Northern Fleet and Novorossiysk Naval Base of the Black Sea Fleet, as well as Caspian Flotilla of the Russia Navy since 2011.

VLADIMIR NIKITINDirector General,SRC Zvezdochka,2007-2015

It has already become a norm for Zvezdochka to explore greater internal power and capacity, at times unknown to itself and surprising to others. Each historic period is a tribute to thousands of people employed at various divisions and sections. One link is missing and the whole system may come to a screeching halt. It is of the essence for each shop, site, team, service, and member of the staff to know and feel their integral role in the dear facility and its achievements. Zvezdochka’s power is in its people, traditions, united endeavors and common holidays.

NIKOLAY KALISTRATOVDirector General,SRC Zvezdochka,1992-2007,2015-2017

Zvezdochka is a unique facility, progressive in a sense. It knows how to focus its capabilities to solve complex tasks, set by the state. It justifies the state status that the enterprise proudly bears. This quality took a while to develop and soon became its trademark. We remained true to these traditions even in the most difficult, turbulent years. We have been honoring and developing them though this day.

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SLATED TO BE SCRAPPED

In the early 1990s, the port area hosted almost two dozen nuclear submarines, decommissioned from the Russian Navy. Most of them were submarines, which Zvezdochka’s specialists stripped of their missile launchers under the strategic arms reduction treaties. However, they still had their reactors and nuclear fuel on them, threatening environment. The state could not find money to scrap the derelict submarines. The situation escalated to the point, when the city’s Council of MPs banned any nuclear-powered asset to enter the harbor. It might cost Zvezdochka its orders. The problem, threatening life and safety of hundreds of thousands of people, ended up in the hands of specialists of the 5th section of the shipyard, led by Alexander Grishko and Andrey Churkasov, and a group of shipbuilders, headed by Andrey Undozerov, Andrey Golovchenko and Alexander Resnyansky.

They literally pioneered the nuclear submarine scrapping technology in Russia, setting up a system from scratch. Zvezdochka in a concerted effort with Onega developed legal and technological bases, built a new operation of the seafront and trained specialists, as well as commissioned an automatic radiological monitoring system. Assisted by the Russian Government, the facilities raised money, obtained from various international programs, and signed contracts with foreign partner states.

The shipyard was among the first in the country to test the procedure of turning over nuclear submarines from the Navy to the plant and put together civilian crews to ferry them to the facility. This approach was adopted by all operations in the scrapping business. The first nuclear submarine, slated to be scrapped, was the K-444. In 2003, the operation went in full swing. It took Zvezdochka just two dozen years to deal with 44 nuclear submarines, decommissioned from the Navy, without an incident.

By adopting the job, which was absolutely new in the whole sector, and taking several other measures, the plant maintained its backlog during the hardship in the wake of the collapse of the USSR, kept its staff and avoided mass cuts in its ranks.

SHIPS VS POTS

The last decade of the 20th century. It was the most difficult period in Zvezdochka’s life. This is the time, when the state procurement system went down and the glorious history of the Yagry shipyard might as well fall into oblivion. This is the time, when many of those, who wielded considerable clout, supported the idea of converting the facility for production of pans and other rubbish, unaware or on the contrary very much aware of the fact that it was the right way to commit shipbuilding to death.

But shipbuilders were resolute to fight for their plant. They won by setting up a versatile operation, first making forays to new sectors and ultimately carving a niche there.

In 1991, Zvezdochka built a bunker ship hull ordered by a Dutch company, thus scoring its first export success in commercial shipbuilding. This

gave impetus to the development of cooperation with foreign enterprises. In the domestic sector the shipyard reequipped the wet fish trawler Novoazovsk and research vessel Professor Kurentsov, as well as built several Project 16900 dry-cargo vessels. In 1994, the facility returned to repairing commercial ships of various classes, trawlers, seiners, hydrographic survey ships, icebreakers, etc. Standing out in the new undertaking are several Project 50010 freezer trawlers, Yagry (1998), Arkhangelsk (2001) and Koyda-2 (2013), catering to the needs of Arkhangelsk’s fishers. These unlimited navigation vessels are still in business today. Unfortunately, due to reasons, over which the plant had no control whatsoever, the construction of ships of this class ceased.

OIL, GAS, SPACE

Zvezdochka continued its international debut by expanding to the oil & gas sector in 1997. Started as a crisis-response measure, it later grew into a promising job.

Norwegian Statoil and Kvaerner oil & gas ordered large metal structures for their semisubmersible gas production platform ASGARD-B. In 2007 and 2008, the shipyard fulfilled its obligation under a contract for construction of metal structures for the semisubmersible rigs Moss CS-50 Mk II and Gjoa. The experience gained during the projects proved to be instrumental in dealing with a future large-scale domestic order, resulting in the construction of the jack-up floating drilling rig Arkticheskaya in 2012. It is a unique asset, the first-ever produced in Russia and still the only country’s platform in the category. Besides, the plant manufactured metal structures for the Prirazlomnya rig, built at Sevmash. Today, Zvezdochka is gearing up to compete for a place in the development of the Kamennomysk-Sea deposit and construction of an LNG plant in the Murmansk region.

Another area, which might as well look exotic in the profile of the company not long ago, is space. The enterprise turned to it in 2004, when Zvezdochka prepared a launch pad for Plesetsk’s Angara launch site. After this the enterprise built an umbilical tower, erectors, as well as a stand for mating a reentry

vehicle with the Briz-M booster. Simultaneously, the shipyard manufactured an umbilical tower and upper cable mast for the Kourou spaceport in South America under the Soyuz-ST program. The cooperation with Plesetsk and Vostochny in construction of ground infrastructure for launch facilities is very much alive.

POWER OF MOTION

Zvezdochka’s pride is the Propulsion Center. Its history dates back to 1964, when a special screw processing operation went in full swing at the shipyard. Marine screws are in a sense a hallmark of the facility. Its trademark, depicting a walrus is recognized all over the world and guarantees the highest quality of the product.

Over the past two dozen years, Zvezdochka delivered 400-plus screws up >>

GRIGORY PROSYANKINDirector,Plant No. 893 –SRC Zvezdochka,1956-1972

Where did we start? We put up a long-term plan, based on the concept of giving up relatively simple orders in favor of maintenance and repair of more complex ships. And every new ship signified another step towards more elaborate production and operation.

SINCE ITS ESTABLISHMENT,

THE PLANT HAS REPAIRED,

MODERNIZED AND REEQUIPPED

around 130 submarines, of which 90 are nuclear

powered. Also, logged into its list of repaired equipment have been 88 surface ships

of the Russian Navy and commercial vessels, including

icebreakers, research and hydrographic survey ships, trawlers, tankers,

steamers, tugs, etc. The facility built 250 ships, craft, and

marine installations.

ANNIVERSARYSRC ZVEZDOCHKA

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ARTEM KHOSHEVPublic relations officer with the SRC Zvezdochka

MADE IN USCSPECIAL PURPOSE SHIPS

UNIQUENESS WITHOUT COMPLEXITIES

In 2018, the Center was commended for its achievements twice at the highest echelons of Russia’s leadership. One came from Russian President Vladimir Putin for Zvezdochka’s contribution to the development of special equipment. The other is the Government Prize for Efforts to Implement the Special Purpose Ship Construction Concept granted to specialists of the shipyard and other participants of a complex program.

At Zvezdochka the prize went to Leonid Berezovsky, heading the Directorate for Construction and Maintenance of Special Purpose Ships, his deputy, Alexander Freindt, as well as deputy chief manufacturing engineer Vladimir Levin.

The staff of the enterprise is proud to take credit for the development and construction of the special purpose ships of Almaz’s Project 20180, modern, hi-tech and versatile platforms packed with everything required to perform missions the Russian Navy wants them for. Two ships of the class are already taking shape – one is going through a multi-phase trial program, while the other has not come off her slipway yet.

Both are unique, something that usually comes at a cost of a more complex research and development phase. This gives a hard time to shipbuilders during construction. Naturally so, for each stablemate of a class is designed to perform her own specific set of missions, making

her an exclusive asset or one of few at best. But Project 20180 shattered the stereotype of construction of small classes of ships. This class offered a platform, giving birth to a great variety of auxiliary ship, including an armament store carrier, rescue tug, and oceanographic survey vessel. The outstanding cohesion and well-coordinated efforts of the designers and shipbuilders culminated in a common maritime platform and multicomponent construction and aftersales support cooperation. These saved time, labor and financial resources, as well as improved quality and reliability throughout all construction phases.

The program for construction of special purpose auxiliary ships gained traction in 2004. Back then Severodvinsk-based Zvezdochka, named the prime contractor for the state contract, laid down the rescue tug, christened after the manufacturing establishment. The engineering design stipulated integration of the results of 33 R&D initiatives. This endowed the ship with the capacity to perform a wide spectrum of tasks, including transportation of bulk dual-purpose equipment, support and execution of emergency, diving, towing, search&rescue and deep-water operations in the Arctic as well. This versatility is a tribute to meticulous efforts of the designer, shipyard, subcontractors, and military representatives. They faced a number of the most complex and challenging tasks of developing, manufacturing, suppling, deploying and commissioning

Shipbuilding along with repair and maintenance of surface ships and submarines of the Russian Navy is getting more prominent in the profile of the SRC Zvezdochka. The development of this aspect has not escaped the attention of state authorities

EXTRAORDINARY MISSIONS OF SPECIAL SHIPS

to 9m in diameter to Europe and Asia. Cruise liners, gas carriers, tankers and icebreakers are propelled by

screws manufactured at the Yagra-based shipyard. Even nuclear submarines, including the most advanced Boreys and Yasens, owe it to the facility that they can sail.

Dynamic development of production and ceaseless broadening of the product range, as well as achievement of better results and maintenance of solid positions on international market are the principles set by the first head of the special marine screw processing operation, a winner of the Government Prize, Nikolay Shorokhov. A visionary himself, he came up with what is now a standard solution in the world of marine propulsion, i.e. deployment of a compact steering pod instead of a bulky shaft and screw system, penetrating the entire ship.

Whether to have the Propulsion Center or not was decided at the turn of 2010. A significant backlog of orders, some of them placed by foreign companies, notwithstanding, a declining trend was getting more and more prominent in the sector. The crisis of 2008 came as yet another contributing factor. The brainstorming of how to ensure the company’s future resulted in the decision to establish a center, which would combine Zvezdochka’s screw processing operation, Vint’s subsidiaries, and the Vega pilot factory.

Over the past five years, the facility delivered 18 sets of its own hi-tech products, namely steering pods and thrusters developing 0.5 to 5.4mW.

Its latest achievement is a 9mW steering pod, dubbed the DRK-9000. Maintaining the position of Russia’s largest provider of marine screws, Zvezdochka became the first supplier in Russia and third in the world offering heavy-duty mechanical steering pods.

Another area pursued by Zvezdochka is contribution to the construction of seabed installations. The shipyard offers to join design and engineering institutions, as well as foreign parties to master their production, taking only several years to cover the path, for which foreign counterparts waisted far more time. Anyway, it is in the blood of the ship repair center to make breakthroughs. At 65 many things are still ahead.

Photo courtesy of Zvezdochka’s press service

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a wide range of ship equipment and gear, many of which had never been produced before.

The complex construction phase, dockside and sea trials resulting in an acceptance certificate, signed on July 24, 2010, brought this endeavor to an end but as it turned out paved the way for a whole class of special ships. So impressed was the customer by her sailing qualities, economic performance, reliability, and versatility that a decision was made to go ahead with the project. This broadened the program and laid the groundwork for construction of ships for various jobs as required by the Navy. Before long, the final decision came resulting in yet another ship being laid down in December 2011.

ZVEZDOCHKA’SACADEMICIANS

Zvezdochka, otherwise engaged mostly in maintaining, repairing, and upgrading ships, vessels and submarines under the state armament procurement program, returned to shipbuilding and started an ‘academician’ class of special purpose ships named after prominent Russian scientists, who made an enormous contribution to the development of the Soviet and Russian science. Leading the way was the Akademik Kovalev armament store carrier, delivered to the customer as soon as 2015 and assigned to the Pacific Fleet where she still performs her duties. As the description suggests the ship’s role is loading, unloading and transporting weapons. According to the design, the ship became larger and received a more powerful propulsion system, boasting longer range and enhanced endurance.

The next order followed right in her wake. The Academician Aleksandrov oceanographic survey ship, laid down in December 2012 and floated off in 2017, completed her dockside and then the first phase of sea trials last year. She has a set of missions of her own. The second ‘academician’ is designed to perform search and rescue operations, as well as carry maritime equipment, research and test gear. She is suitable for shelf researches even in the Arctic zone.

A third ‘scientist’, Academik Makeev, since her construction kicked off in 2015 has already gained her hull. The shipbuilders, toiling in the main slipway shop, saturated her with bulk equipment and deployed steerable thrusters and other machinery. A twin sister of Academik Kovalev she is though, there is one very significant thing about her, which gave a hard time to both shipbuilders and designers.

IMPORT SUBSTITUTION EXPERIENCE

Strengthening of Russia, as well as implementation of its independent foreign and domestic policy were not perceived well by ‘partners’ in the West, considering it a mutiny and taking immediate unfriendly actions. Restrictions imposed by other states on Zvezdochka made a significant impact on the program. At the commissioning phase, almost on the eve of Akademik Kovalev’s first sea trials, several foreign suppliers terminated their contracts citing sanctions. Zvezdochka displayed resilience in the face of the troubles, recovered fast and met its obligations allowing only a slight slip for a project of this magnitude. The construction documentation had to be revised at Almaz to incorporate import substitution requirements at a phase, when the hull construction was in full swing and part of foreign components had already been delivered to the manufacturer. The designers and shipbuilders managed to save the situation at this dire moment as

well. The most challenging thing was to fine-tune and test those units, machinery and gear already obtained from abroad. Again, citing sanctions, the manufacturer refused to render assistance in this as well. Having to face the problem on its own, Zvezdochka figured out a solution. Obviously, unexpected obstacles affected the construction progress and test program. But think of the experience gained!

It shows on Akademik Makeev in particular. Though similar to Akademik Kovalev outwardly, unlike her the new ship is Russian from the keel. The implementation of the enormous import substitution program has been on track so far. Zvezdochka also has a hand in shaping the ship anew. Its Propulsion Center developed, manufactured and deployed steerable pods and thrusters.

Overcoming one obstacle after another, the participants of the auxiliary fleet refreshment program kept stockpiling expertise. Having mastered the construction process on the first order placed with the facility, the shipbuilder summoned its creativity to hone and improve it in the future. By all means a success, Project 20180 implemented the concept of designing and building a whole range of special purpose ships, not only based on a reliable, hi-tech and versatile platform boasting outstanding performance, but also tailored for construction at Russia’s shipyards. Efforts have been taken to achieve a high degree of commonality of shipborne equipment and machinery, which provides for adoption of mass production approach to a great extent, despite the unique nature of each ship.

TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGHS ARE ZVEZDOCHKA’S TRADEMARK

Winners of the Government Prize Vitaly Shimalovich of Almaz, Leonid Berezovsky of Zvezdochka,Vladimir Kolomiets of the Russian Navy, Vitaly Vdovichenko of the Russian MoD, Alexander Baryshnikov of Rubin,and Alexander Freindt of Zvezdochka

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Korea’s shipyards do better than the others, since they have a rather diversified portfolio of orders, with tankers, gas carriers,

and container vessels taking equal share, and heftier backlog keeping them busy to around 80 percent of their capacity. Some credit goes to the active support of the state extended to the sector. Following them are the Chinese shipbuilders, focused primarily on bulk freighters, however their workload is far lower resting at 38 percent. Japan, while third in this race and loaded to 27 percent of its capacity, continues losing its market share. European shipbuilding is all in the construction of complex, thus very expensive vessels: their backlog

is dominated by cruise ships, keeping its facilities loaded to 55 percent.

Prospects for improvement of the situation in the shipbuilding market are poor at best. Since 2016, there has been a permanent decline of the workload of major players in the market, but not in Europe, where shipbuilding has been showing stable growth since 2012.

In this complex market situation bare survival of the shipyards in the leading three countries is contingent on the growth of effectiveness of their operations. Experts estimate the degree of automation at Korean and Japanese shipyards at 70 percent while in China the indicator is just 25-30 percent. This accounts for the fact that labor intensity at Chinese shipyards is a third

of that in Korea and Japan, which demonstrates benefits of integration of digital solutions in shipbuilding.

Experts also note that adoption of innovative solutions at shipyards produces a paradoxical effect, i.e. growth of effectiveness of a shipyard leads to higher capacity and, obviously, offer, which is already in abundance today.

STATE SUPPORT

Russia’s commercial shipbuilding includes 55 entities, provided the enterprises parented by corporations are considered as individual players. The Russian shipyards’ capacity provides around 310 thousand tons of steel processed per year.

The commercial shipbuilding market in Russia accounted for 30.6 bln. RUR in 2017 and 46.38 bln. RUR in the following year. It lacks stability, which is attributing not to its natural volatility, but rather to protracted construction periods of ships resulting in situations when several ships are commissioned in one year, thus affecting statistical indicators.

It is worth noting that the volume of import of ships, both new and used, surpasses the volume of shipbuilding for domestic needs 5-7 times in terms of costs in Russia.

All shipyards running their business in the Russian market fall under one of the three categories. About 80 percent of the overall production capacity in the sector and 60-80 percent of the Russian market in value terms belong to the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corp. Another group includes shipyards, based on internal waterways in European Russia. The others are enterprises established

NEW AGEOF SHIPBUILDINGThe world numbers 590 shipyards accounting for an aggregate capacity of 45 mln. CGT, however only 150 of them received orders last year. The shipyards in business are loaded to an average of 46 percent of their capacity, although 10 leading facilities account for 57 percent of all orders. 290-odd enterprises did not get orders at all last year. These figures indicate a deep recession and excess of offers in shipbuilding

ILYA PANTELEEVDirector, Department of Marketing and Sales, USC

EXPERT OPINIONGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT TRENDS

Bulk Container Gas Offshore

Others ex. Cruise Cruise Tanker

South KoreaChina Japan Europe RoW

Share of annual active capacity

38% 80% 27% 55% 15%

0

3

6

9

12

DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORLD MARKET IN SHIPBUILDINGAS OF QUARTER III OF 2018 / mln. CGT /

№3 (39) 2019 USC / 33

DISTRIBUTION OF THE RUSSIAN COMMERCIAL SHIPBUILDING MARKET IN VALUE TERMS BETWEEN RUSSIA’S THREE LEADING SHIPBUILDERS IN 2017-2018

/ Only commercial ordersplaced this year, excluding ship repair and including export /

to build rigs and metal constructions. A special place belongs to the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex, headquartered in Bolshoy Kamen, Primorsky region. As soon as its construction is finished, the shipyard has every chance to take the lead in both output (330 thousand tons of steel processed per year, construction of ships of unlimited displacement) and workload capacity. Finally, there are Crimean shipyards boasting the capability to build commercial ships from the keel. Among them are More and Ocean, affected by sanctions and enjoying a special attention of the Russian Government and state support.

All in all, a major market trends in Russian shipbuilding development is the growing role of the state as the leading customer and regulator in the area of creation and enhancement of the initial demand, as well as retooling of shipyards and establishment of new regional versatile shipbuilding groups on the basis of local facilities, e.g. Ak-Bars and Kalashnikov. Another important thing is that all indicators are in place to claim the transit from monopolistic to oligopolistic nature of the market. International sanctions are still a factor in the operation of USC, which is a detriment to a certain extent and leads to the growing footprint of import substitution. Also, the Russian market is isolated to a great degree from the world market of new ships. For one thing, it is a real challenge for Russian ships to squeeze into the world market of new ships, which has been at rock bottom for a decade. Thus, export in Russian shipbuilding is very low. Second, import of new ships to Russia faces several barriers: VAT and tariffs (minus RMRS registration fees), numerous localization laws and regulations, as well as geography. Besides, it is not in Russia’s plans to cease reequipping and retooling shipyards and plants, as well as diversifying production.

Source: INFOLine, April 2019

ENTERPRISEValue,mln. RUR

Market share of shipyardsin value terms

2017 2018 2017 2018

USC 18 640 37 739,69 60,9% 81,4%

Transship 2 155 1 750 7% 3,8%

Universal Cargo Logistics Holding B.V. 1 470 1 750 4,8% 3,8%

ALL RUSSIAN SHIPYARDS, TOTAL: 30 610,65 46 380,82 100% 100%

2015 2016 2017

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

0

1

2

3

4

0

0,5

-0,5

-1

-1,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

DISTRIBUTION OF THE COMMERCIAL SHIP MARKET IN RUSSIA IN 2015-2017/ bln. USD /

PERIOD OF EMPLOYMENT OF THE SHIPYARDS IN MAJOR SHIPBUILDING NATIONS BASED ON THE CURRENT BACKLOG / years /

Shi

p co

st, b

ln. U

SD

<< Order cover (years)

0,28

0,040,24

0,03

0,59 0,61

0,97

0,27

Built at Russianshipyards

for domesticmarket

New vesselsexportedby Russia

Vessels importedby Russia,

regardless ofthe time logged

in service

Vessels exported by Russia,

regardless ofthe logged time

in service

Apparentconsumption

of commercial vesselsin Russia

0,33

1,18

1,88

2,29

0,87

1,541,65

China South Korea Japan Europe Global

34 / USC №3 (39) 2019

SHIPSDesigns, drafted by Georgy Shmakov, an outstanding chief designerof St. Petersburg’s Marine Design Bureau "Malachite", paved the way for60-plus 2nd and 3rd generation nuclear submarines, which provided military parityof our country during the Cold Warand continue doing it today

RADIY SHMAKOVleading specialists in design history

Project 971 multipurpose nuclear submarine

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Georgy N. Chernishev was a man of a very original personality. He possessed outstanding skills of a leader, expertise

and experience, fantastic addiction to work, which earned him a well-deserved authority in his professional community.

FACTORY’S SCHOOL

Georgy Chernishev was born in Ukraine’s Nikolayev on August 23, 1919 to a family of workers. He started working at the age of 15, first at a factory school and then Nikolaev Shipyard. Soon after he joined the Nikolayev Shipbuilding Institute, a war broke out. Having been enlisted, Chernishev resumed his training later in Przhevalsk, where the institute had been evacuated. Upon graduating, he was assigned to the TsKB-18 Central Design Bureau (today known as the Rubin Design Bureau), headquartered in Nizhny Novgorod at the time. Having arrived there as a designer, 1st category, sometime into his fledgling career he was promoted to a senior designer. In 1947, Chernishev was picked to join the Alexey Antipin-led group of specialists, deployed in German Blankenburg. The task was to rebuild a special power plant, designed by Helmut Walter, a German engineer. German shipbuilders used it in construction of their 26th series submarines.

In May 1948, after accumulating all materials for rebuilding the combined cycle turbine plant, Chernishev received orders to just reestablished Design Bureau No. 143 (today known as Malachite). He arrived in time to take part in all design and construction phases, as well as dockside trials of the Project 617 submarine, developed at the facility.

NUCLEAR BREAKTHROUGH

In September 1952, as a member of only a handful of specialists at SKB-143, led by Vladimir Peregudov and mentored by Academician Anatoly Alexandrov of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Chernishev mounted an effort to develop the first Soviet nuclear

submarine. These eventually came to fruition. They managed to prove that it was plausible to create a submarine powered by the first transport-grade, water-steam nuclear plant. Nikolay Dollezhal, a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, was named the chief designer. Georgy Chernishev proved himself to be an outstanding professional during the projects.

ROLE OF PERSONALITYTO THE CENTENARYOF GEORGY CHERNISHEV’S BIRTH

Leonid Brezhnev at the construction site of a Project 671 submarine, Admiralty Plant, 1965.Flanking Brezhnev are Georgy Chernishev (left) and Minister of Shipbuilding Industry Boris Butoma (right)

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In April 1953, the USSR Council of Ministers made a decision to go ahead with the development of a conceptual design of the first Soviet nuclear submarine of Project 627, later christened Leninsky Komsomol. Since then and through 1956, Chernishev worked as deputy head of the main nuclear propulsion plant section of newly established SKB-143. Creativity, broad outlook, and permanent desire to look for non-standard solutions were instrumental in designing new nuclear submarines.

November 1956 saw Chernishev deputy chief designer, assisting Vitaly Funikov in Project 639, a submarine carrying R-15 long-range missiles (chief designer Michael Yangel). Two years before this, the engineer had finished a conceptual design, boasting a range of solutions, crucial in submarine building, which would later be integrated into competitive designs of 2nd generation nuclear submarines.

MULTIPURPOSE SUBMARINE

Given its area of expertise, SKB-143 was tasked to design the Project 671 ASW submarine. Chernishev was named the chief designer. The lead boat was commissioned in November 1967. There is no way to overestimate the impact of this event on the Soviet submarine building. Having gone for an absolutely new architectural solution boasting an axially symmetric shape, the team achieved the best propulsion to length qualities. Her rather developed stern-mounted cross fins provided stability at a record speed of around 34kt. At the same time the submarine maintained a remarkable agility.

The submarine’s shape called for specific solutions, namely adoption of a large diameter pressure hull, deployment of sonar and torpedo systems in the bow, which had already become a standard approach, as well as installation of a single-shaft main turbo gear unit complete

with an autonomous turbogenerator in one compartment. Instrumental in achieving high performance was a tough competition for lower displacement. Later on, this came in handy for development of modifications of the design at inland facilities of the country.

Started as an ASW submarine, she evolved into a multi-purpose platform. As she was still in construction, Russia developed missile systems, suitable for launching from torpedo tubes, namely Vyuga, Vodopad, Shkvak, Granat, and Kalibr.

This project earned Chernishev the title of the Hero of the Socialist Labor.

Progressive solutions and resulting high performance laid a solid groundwork for the construction of several modifications. Five years later, the Navy received the lead ship of Project 671RT, boasting enhanced torpedo weapons, advanced long-range torpedoes, 650mm Veter and T-65 missiles, modular design of the steam-turbine plant and lower noise signature. This job won Chernishev the USSR State Prize.

Meanwhile, the designer continued independent efforts to improve the baseline model. These led to the Project 671RTM lead ship, commissioned in 1977. She received cutting-edge redioelectronics, Skat-S sonar equipment, Medveditsa

Award received for Project 671, 1968. The star of the Hero of Socialist Labor is awarded by the Secretaryof the regional committee, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party Central Committee, Grigory Romanov

Launch of the K-38, a Project 671 submarine, Hull No. 600,Leningrad Admiralty Association, 1966. Georgy Chernishev (left)

Ceremony of laying down flowers to the memorial plaque on G. Chernishev’s 100th birthday, August 23, 2019

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navigation equipment, and Omnibus tactical data system. Moreover, the team further reduced the noise signature. The project took advantage of just developed nonacoustic systems and precision weapons, suitable for attacks on targets in the potential enemy’s territory.

So outstanding were the characteristics of the Shchuka (Russian for pike), as the project later was dubbed, that the go-ahead was granted later to build a large class of 26 submarines, with two facilities sharing the workload, St. Petersburg’s Admiralty Shipyard and Komsomolsk-on-Amur’s Leninsky Komsomol. The final boat bringing up the rear of the class was commissioned in 1992. For this endeavor, Chernishev was awarded the Order of Lenin. The Project 671/671RT/671RTM submarines, totaling 48 pieces, proved to be true “working horses,” always returning to their home ports, reliable boats of their time.

THIRD GENERATION

In 1974, Chernishev was dual-hatted as the head and chief designer of the Malachite design bureau, combining the staffs of SKB-143 and TsKB16, a.k.a. Volna Central Design Bureau. Chernishev deserves the credit for the impeccably executed merger, leaving offended no one on both teams and granting promotions based on merits to those, demonstrating remarkable skills and expertise.

Organizational difficulties triggered by this notwithstanding, the facility continued researches in an attempt to develop a third-generation submarine. The year 1976 saw the presentation of an abbreviated conceptual design, dubbed Project 971. The lead submarine passed all required tests and was commissioned in 1984. In the same year, Chernishev was named the chief designer of the new project.

The job to build Project 971 submarines was assigned to two shipyards in Komsomolk-on-Amur and Severodvinsk.

Having been relieved from his obligations as the chief designer of Projects 671, 671RT and 671RTM, Georgy Chernishev focused on the development of the Project 971 class of submarines.

As for the other three projects, the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry unloaded them on Radiy Shmakov in 1984.

Projects 971 and 671 are special milestones in Chernishev’s biography. The new research again resulted in a baseline model of a multipurpose nuclear submarine, boasting balanced characteristics and built-in modernization margin. However, what really matters in the design is its extremely low noise signature and deployment of an advanced sonar suite.

Chernishev was adamant in achieving parity with the U.S. in the capability to detect submarines. Only Project 971 presented him with an opportunity to reach the goal in a concerted effort with contractors, research institutions and his own staff. It was an enormous endeavor, which saw integration of multiple proposals of researches and customers, as well as implementation of non-standard technical solutions. Going through her trials, the lead ship proved her superiority to the Los Angeles class. This put an end to our long fight to bridge the gap in such an important characteristic of submarines as stealthiness. In this respect, there is no ways to overestimate Georgy Chernishev’s contribution to this solution of state magnitude. For this job Chernishev was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation.

AUDACITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

The success of turning torpedo-armed submarines into torpedo- and missile-armed multipurpose superperformance platforms was shaped by Chernishev’s personal qualities to a great extent. First and foremost, it is the burden of responsibility that the chief designer had to shoulder every time he made a decision in his project. It would not be out of place to note his talent, multiplied by his hardworking personality, sense of responsibility, as well as the capacity to analyze thoughtfully and meticulously multiple options and pick only the right ones. Similar to the conductor of a large orchestra, composed of a variety of musical instruments, who brings harmony and richness of sounds, Chernishev created pieces of his own – streamlined, gorgeous and elegant submarines. He was extremely tolerant to opponents and possessed a sense of humor. Over the 45 years of his work, Chernishev often found himself in situations, when he had to prove himself right, argue, insist and persuade. Thought, it was not a rare occasion when he got what he needed. He had this everlasting desire to boost the effectiveness of submarines not only at the designing phase but during the construction as well. That is what happened to torpedo and missile weapons, sonar and non-acoustic equipment. Borne out of pure initiative of the chief designer, Projects 671RTM and 971 came totally unplanned. Solutions were audacious, but not a single error emerged. A wise and conscientious man, Chernishev understood that the Navy needed not only effective, but reliable submarines as well. He respected submariners, appreciated their expertise, referred to their knowledge, and was always attentive to suggestions of the Navy.

Georgy Chernishev died in 1997. He rests in Volokovskoye Cemetery, St. Petersburg. In his memory, a memorial plaque was unveiled on the facade of Malachite’s building. His name was given to a physical field measuring vessel of the Russian Northern Fleet and a stand was put up in the design bureau, speaking volumes about his endeavors.

Academician Anatoly Alexandrov awards G. Chernishevthe Kurchatov Medal, 1982

ROLE OF PERSONALITYTO THE CENTENARYOF GEORGY CHERNISHEV’S BIRTH

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Anyway, researchers were attracted by the place scientifically for the place was a continent, totally uninhabited either by people or other living creatures with all water it had was in the solid state. Geological researches suggest that similar or almost similar

conditions rained in whole Europe up to the Urals and North America in the past. Vast plots of land were covered by slabs of ice 2-3km thick. Proving this are huge boulders in fields and valleys, accumulations of stones and sand – glacial clay, ubiquitous lakes, terrain, etc.

The Antarctic icecap was even larger than Europe. It is difficult to imagine all these cities and lands covered by ice. Ice does creep there, moving from the cap center sideways to turn into icebergs.

The Northern Hemisphere also has continental ice regions. Their center is Greenland. However, the surface of the Arctic Ocean has always been dominated not by a continent but ocean with drifting ice and icebergs. These are two icing models, continental and ocean.

The main area of continental glacier now as in the not so distant geological past is in the Southern Hemisphere with the ice spread pattern changing over time similarly to that in the Norther

Hemisphere. Its fringes projected into the ocean at one moment and withdrew from it at another. Here one witnesses the operation of a natural ice thermometer in progress.

It has grown more obvious for researchers and scientists that accurate forecasts of the environment and clime development in the past is contingent on these huge natural ice self-sustained fridges.

All of a sudden, these efforts became needed in space exploration. A resolution of the International Geophysical Committee covered not only continental efforts, but launches of geophysical rockets from the Antarctic and Hayes Island in the Arctic.

TIRELESS PAPANIN

Conveniently, in those years authorities still remembered about the heroic endeavor of the station Severny Polus – 1 (Russian for northern pole), drifting in the Arctic ice, landing the job of planning a charge to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean on the laps of Papanin among other co-authors of the initiative. First thing first, to get to the region they had to start coming to the Southern Hemisphere, which was poorly researched and almost unattended by Soviet expeditions. Besides, it had been only a decade since the end of the Great Patriotic War, meaning that the country just started its long recovery, adopting a very frugal lifestyle.

SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH TO THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

In was in spring 1955 that I first heard about preparations of an expedition to the Antarctic from Ivan Papanin, then deputy director of the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Science. They wanted to set up in that place an observatory for 24/7 observations and conduct first researches in the Southern Ocean, notorious for its heavy storms

PAGES OF GLORY200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ANTARCTIC DISCOVERY

ALEXANDER LISITSYNRAS academician, Shirshov Institute of Oceanologyof the Russian Academy of Sciences

Direction post indicating distances. Bellingshausen, Russian Antarctic Research Station, King George Island, Antarctic

№3 (39) 2019 USC / 39

Nevertheless, almost a miracle happened, a tribute not to officials, but rather scientists with the Academy of Sciences and polar explorers, who were held in high esteem at the time.

It is noteworthy that the job of organizing such an audacious and large expedition to the Antarctic, unknown to humanity before, was given to the USSR Academy of Sciences with its Vice-President Academician Ivan Bardin picked to head the project. Other institutions of Morflot, a sea and river transport watchdog, Hydrometeorological service and Glavsevmorput, governing operations in the main northern route were brought in for technical assistance. This was one of the most complex endeavors ever undertaken by the Academy of Sciences.

It was dubbed KAE AN SSSR, a.k.a. Comprehensive Antarctic Expedition of the USSR Academy of Science.

In the government, the project was supervised by Anastas Mikoyan, assisted by Adm. Valisy Burkhanov, heading the Main Directorate of the Main Northern Route (Glavsevmorput). Professor Michael Somov was named the head of the project on the continent for the first year, while Professor Vladimir Kort, leading the Institute of Oceanology, commanded the operation in the ocean.

The continental team was supposed to stay through winter to continue observation and processing of materials collected during the first summer. The first task facing the expedition was to build a settlement on the icecap and start conducting first researches of the continent before the polar night took over.

TRAINS AND PLAINS

Of all modern transport systems available at the time, the major role in the polar latitudes belonged to aviation and heat-insulated cat trains, heavy tracked tractors pulling sledges. It was the latter that contributed most of all to the exploration of the icecap, taking the teams over thousands of kilometers.

Coming in the way of aviation operations were poor radio and meteorological support, weather and lack of airfields. Though, cat trains were dangerous due to deep cracks in the icecap. Tractor routes charted for seismic researches made the most significant impact. They conducted a series of blasts, generating pulses of seismic waves, to measure the ice thickness.

The first data, collected on the continent, suggested that the icecap was not just a slab of ice, but rather an ice system of enormous dimensions. It was in constant motion over a stone surface, replete with cracks.

Being 1-3km thick, the icecap generates extreme pressure over its bedrock with the interfacing layer capturing small and large rock particles as it moves. It is in a way a natural rock crusher or a giant grinder of global dimensions turning the rock into small powder mixed with rock particles. In some places large pieces come off finer material, exactly what researches observed in the Banger Oasis, 300km away from Mirny, reached by sea geologists aboard of helicopters.

The route of the first Comprehensive Antarctic Expeditionof the USSR Academy of Science (sea part)

Cape Town

Antarctic circle

Southern Tropic

Northern Tropic

Arctic Circle

Mirny Station

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Hamburg

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Sedimentary materials are generated deep below the ice and moved by sub-ice “rock” coral rivers, taking ice to the ocean shore. Based on the surface line of the bedrock, researches identified ice divides and subglacial valleys, as well as estuaries of solid ice rivers.

Generated under the icecap are isolated ice reservoirs. Pieces and fragments in them are consistent with composition of the bedrock sealed under thick ice. These ice rivers emerge as huge iceberg estuaries and steep cliff running the length of the bank. The process results in icebergs, huge natural floats with a rock weight below. They travel hundreds and thousands of kilometers away from the icecap. Ever since they come off the huge slab of ice they are tracked by satellites.

The Antarctic rock crusher and grinder are a global machine, covering 12-14 thousand km2 and manifesting itself in the form of perpetual noise in seismic recordings. These were results of the first four expeditions.

CONQUEROR OF ICE

Needed was a research vessel, fit for operations in heavy and super-complex ice conditions of the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties with waves towering up to two dozen meters. She had to be at least twice as big as Vityaz and able to resist to waves for hours at a time, while the job was done on her deck, and respond to steering equally good in various propulsion modes. This narrowed the range of options to a diesel-electric powered platform. Besides, an ice-capable ship was favored more than an icebreaker, unsuitable for operations in rough seas. Another important requirement was to equip the future ship with navigation gear, providing her coordinates even in uncharted sea areas.

To support wintering periods in the Arctic, the USSR ordered in the Netherlands two cargo-and-passenger diesel-electric ships Ob’ and Lena, displacing 12,000t each. It was decided to turn one of them into a unique ice-capable research vessel. The conversion was carried out as planned in a timely manner, thanks to the impetus provided by ministers and Papanin’s team.

By the set deadline, Ob’ had started taking loads – about 4-5 thousand tons of aircraft, tractors, helicopters, all-terrain vehicles, portable houses, power plants, etc. The inaugural run of the vessel in the Davis Sea in fast ice conditions, aggravated by strong winds, proved that such operations were plausible.

LAB IN THE OCEAN

During the conversion, the ship received at least six Ocean winches and four modern research labs. Though, the most challenging task proved to be the deployment of heavy twin-drum winch for trawling at depths of up to 8-10 thousand meters and

handling heavy large-diameter seabed corers, weighing up to 5t. At the request of crews, the winches were deployed on both sides of the ship and stern, providing for operations in close ice conditions when the screw of the ship was running.

With the benefit of hindsight, one can say with a high degree of certainty that the sea part of the expedition would not be possible had it not be for the well-engineered and executed conversion.

When taking seabed samples, the power plants had to be running at low speed at all times to keep the ice away, even though the ship left ice opening astern. This approach of heading to the wind was called Captain Ivan Mann’s Method. Every time after the station was up and stowed, he called the lab to ask, “What have you caught?”

The vessel proved her ice capabilities during the first transit through fast and drifting ice in the vicinity of Mirny and kept surprising everybody throughout the first voyage to eastern Antarctic regions. During her second run to the area, Ob’ rescued the Japanese icebreaker Sōya from ice captivity responding to an emergency signal. The huge and hard hull coupled with good ice capabilities proved to be the right mix for unusual conditions in the Antarctic.

SEDIMENTS EXPECTED

The job to develop approaches and techniques of operations “in hazardous conditions” landed not only on the plate of geologists, who handled equipment and gear weighing up to 100kg, but Captain Mann’s as well.

His was to figure out how to stabilize the vessel against the wind with due consideration of her drift and maintain the rope vertically over the board,

which implied that the ship had to be kept at a very low speed, something possible to do only on a diesel-electric ship. Everything seemed pretty much straightforward, but the gusting wind and waves kept the vessel listed. The bridge and winch operators had to demonstrate outstanding cohesion, which took a while to develop. In rough seas waves not only covered the deck, it was not unheard of when they brushed the bridge as well. To assist winch operations, a jackstay was stretched across the deck for crew members to hold to it.

Another hazard was that in bad weather, any device lifted from water turned into a heavy and dangerous pendulum.

Collected samples had to be fast processed in the ship’s primary treatment lab complete with a self-sustained power plant feeding metering gear, communication line connecting with the deck, as well as other things essential to support its operation in heavy meteorological conditions, polar night and snow. In the lab, scientists created a unique plant of suspended matter, part of which was used to study and precipitate dissolved substances. A third plant was used for aerosol analysis (atmospheric suspended material). There was also a fourth section to process and research moraine subglacial formations of the Antarctic icecap. All these

PAGES OF GLORY200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ANTARCTIC DISCOVERY

The Soviet veteranof Antarctic expeditionsdiesel steamer Ob’ delivered cargo to the Mirny research observatory, 1974

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facilities, capable of around-the-clock operations, were set up by the crew and builders during the transit.

Advanced capabilities of the research vessel Ob’ proved to be instrumental in taking just started studies further during the ship’s first voyage already. Furthermore, scientists could do them in areas, not long before unthinkable in moderate and tropical zones, let alone the Roaring latitudes.

Processes were studied not only in seabed samples, but in the body of water as well, continuing efforts kicked off during the first voyages of Vityaz. Results caused a sensation in science. Matters dissolved in water, as well as atmosphere, snow, ice and icebergs precipitate to the seabed, creating the top layer of the bottom. These micro-particles literally “record” the precipitation process history. Thus, by studying the matters, both precipitated and suspended in the water, one can draw conclusions about a gamut of various natural processes. The challenge in the whole thing is that such matters are in abundance by no means, requiring special nuclear filters, capturing particles less than 0.45µ. Then they are exposed to microscopic studies and various analyses. Back in those days, equipment was 10 times less sensitive, accounting for the need to process volumes of bottom water. Researches developed 200l and 400l water sampling devices, featuring special sedimentation traps. For top layers researches deployed multi-stage immersible stainless steel pumps.

To capture suspended matter deployed were industrial separators, similar to those adopted in medical plants producing antibiotics. These were extremely heavy machines almost as tall as a human being, made from stainless steel and provided by Swiss Alfa Laval under a special contract.

Ob’ was the first in the whole world to carry a separation lab featuring other types of machines as well, namely a drum separator and disc stack centrifuge providing stages 1 and 2 respectively. High-speed separators are particularly dangerous in rough seas, since the drum performing thousands of revolutions per minute can come off its mounting any moment.

Special analyses of rock samples suggested that the bedrock petrographic composition was extremely diverse, however in southern zones of the ocean researches came up with a whole new belt of marine ice sediments, which had been unknown before. In the North, the belt butt-ends against the global diatom siliceous belt, 30-70 percent comprised of diatom flaps. The maximum content of amorphous silica is 70-plus percent. The southern silica belt traces were discovered in bottom sediments and suspended matters.

Other discoveries are attributed to studies of bottom sediment columns, penetrating deep into the geological history. Stretching around 15m tops, these columns revealed the variation of borders of major types of sediments in the past and were instrumental in developing a working stratigraphic scale of the Southern hemisphere. This is the history of ice ages replaced by periods of warming as opposed to the conditions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Standing particularly prominent among other devices was a giant coring tube, a.k.a. the Tzar Tube. It retrieved samples not only from the bottom surface, but far lower layers, dating back hundreds of thousands of years, as well.

This design took the capacity of the winch, developed and mounted on Ob’ in the run-up to the research voyage, to its limit. The whole thing weighs 5-plus tons with the bore core spanning 130mm in diameter.

PLEASE MEET THE SHELF!

Preparations of the vessel for bottom contour researches was conducted by geomorphologists, led by Professor Alexander Zhivago. They managed to obtain and deploy in the ship lab two advanced Soviet acoustic depth finders, deep and shallow water. They run at

all times when the vessel moved. They supplied data, comprised an atlas of the bottom

of the Southern Ocean. Multiple maps were published and made a basis for the navigational maps

of the Navy. In the first four voyages, which included a team of

the Institute of Oceanology, resulted in numerous discoveries. For one thing, the shelf surprised everybody, particularly the zone lying 200m below the surface. In the Antarctic, the shelf bearing the load of the icecap submerged to 100-200m with its fringe running parallel to the icecap edge. The place was called the Lazarev Valley. They also managed to draw a bathymetric map of the Davis Sea, washing the shore of the Mirny observatory. Other discoveries included the Lena and Ob Seamounts, crossing of the mid-ocean ridge of the Southern Ocean, which just became a subject of recent studies and later paved the way for the age of lithosphere plate tectonic explorations. Most of these data, ending up in the hands of hydrographers, was included in the first Soviet maps of the Southern Ocean.

The sea expedition in the Antarctic was full of results, contributing to all Earth sciences. The credit for the most significant impact goes to the first four voyages, when sea studies were the focal point.

The year 1960 saw a shift of attention from the sea to the continent. Most of our special gear was removed from the ship, turning sea operations from advanced researches in the spirit of the Academy of Science into routine and outdated. However, the first four voyages bore scores of significant results.

THE SEA PART OF THE EXPEDITION WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE HAD IT NOT BE FOR THE WELL-ENGINEERED AND EXECUTED CONVERSION OF THE SHIP

Layout of an ice-collecting pool in the Antarctic [Kotlyakov, 1994].The border of the major ice-collecting pools (determined by subglacial ridges (1), ice stream lines (2, 3) running along valleys to the ocean and opening withiceberg estuaries (triangles) for unloading the ice

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Though, researches of the Southern Hemisphere in terms of lithosphere plate tectonics kicked off in the late ‘50s, there are still many loose ends. One of them is the vertical motion of the continental Antarctic plate prompted by the icecap load. As we already know, imposed by the largest slab of ice on Earth, this load changes in space and time. During the sea exploration program, it was determined that the load is a key factor in shaping the bottom contour.

It was the first comprehensive expedition, encompassing both the continent and ocean of the Southern Hemisphere.

4D

During the exploration of seas and oceans of various climatic zones, researchers came up with a 4D system of oceanological studies. Besides the three standard coordinates, i.e. latitude, longitude and depth, they phased in a fourth indicator, time. This allowed to study the simultaneous aspect in the events in the ocean and on the continent not only in terms of variation of the quantity of matter in the suspended material and bottom sediments, but its types and their dependence on the distance to the icecap as well. This comparative analysis was the first-ever, albeit incomplete, conducted in the region.

The continental researches suggested that the icecap was around four meters thick. About 2/3s of them, the ice part of the cap, are the modern zone of the most severe environment and climate conditions on the planet. The degree of cold is perilously close to that on some planets of the solar system, 89.2°.

A comparative analysis of the glaciers in the Southern Hemisphere, developed on the continental crust, with the Northern Hemisphere, a second maximum severity zone but grown on the ocean crust, suggests that it is the crust type that ultimately determines the climate severity. The severity of the maritime part is somewhat offset by the liquid sea. The Arctic Ocean, possessing milder conditions, is covered by drifting ice, providing a special circulation. In other words, the place lacks the kind of hard cap of the Southern Ocean.

Geologists claim that Earth went through repeating cycles of crust changes in the zones of extreme severity. There is a way to forecast their future movement by measuring the motion vector of the lithospheric plates, their continental parts in particular.

Thus, we have areas on our planet, possessing water in various states, changing over time due to the motion of the lithospheric plates. Liquid water is replaced by zones of “solid” water and vapor. The interaction of the three states of water and their sediments proves the global ocean level and

icecap volume to be a viable tool in researches. This allows to figure out the dynamics of water distribution

through the three states over time and not only track changes in the continental and sea environments, but also apply this data to the evaporation zone in the tropics to determine its impact on the overall balance in the zone. This zone stands out for its enormous scope and magnitude in the history of geology. The fact makes water a “compensator” and indicator of its three volumes.

There are sufficient grounds to claim that upon getting to the Arctic Ocean, the continental part of the lithospheric plate will turn Europe and Asia into colder places. Moreover, if the continental plate maintains its position, Earth will witness a global record of negative temperatures falling to -100° and below!

The aforementioned indicates that a crucial role in the history of environment and climate development belongs to lithospheric plate tectonics. Efforts aimed at studying this aspect by means of manned underwater vehicles have been underway at the Institute of Oceanology for the past 30 years. The results suggest that through mid-ocean ridges a considerable amount of endogenic matter of the hot magma, heated up to 1,200°С, comes into contact with water. Another observation was that every 1,000m added 100 atmospheres to the water pressure. At the same time, this changes water properties, turning it into a fluid aggressive to the basaltic lava, dissolving basalts as if they were sugar, dropped into a cup of tea. The process starts shaping ore minerals and hydrothermal vents.

By any means a remarkable discovery of the period was that copper, zinс and other heavy metals on the continent had derived from pyritic ore, aged up to 500 mln. years. Given the minerals, chemical composition and biogenic residues in the pyritic ore of the South Urals and other regions, the crust obviously originated in the ocean. This is one of new indicators of conditions shaping the sea crust of the lithospheric plates.

When turning into ice, sea water undergoes a cold distillation process with most of salts and suspended matter “squeezed” and just a fraction of them preserved in micro bubbles.

Not least important is the third state of water, namely vapor, i.e. fog and clouds. The process also affects the arid zones, distilling sea water and “squeezing” dissolved salts out of it. This results in distillate, i.e. fog, clouds, and rain drops, accompanied by their subsequent movement to a new location where they will fall. Salts, remaining in their original location, have been extracted at shallow water sites and in mines since ancient times. The fact automatically rates them as ancient deposits.

Direct probes into processes on the Antarctic continent and Southern Ocean, encircling Earth’s major continental ice accumulation area pave the way for new studies in physics, chemistry, biology, and ocean geology.

It would not be an exaggeration at all to say that the materials, collected in the Antarctic by all-weather and ice-capable vessels, pointed to synchronous changes of water states.

The motive power of the “stone crushers” comes from ice elevated above the level of the world ocean. Today the Antarctic is in average 2,165m above the level. Europe and Asia are elevated 300m and 950m respectively. The last glacierization resulted in the ocean level dropping by another 100-120m. The power of the natural “stone crusher” is also registered by the level of the world ocean, telling us among other things the location of the pole of severe conditions, which we explored

The diesel steamer Ob’ is welcomed to Leningrad from her Antarctic expedition.August 1, 1973

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during the expedition. The glacierization will peak when the continental crust comes over both poles simultaneously.

This makes the Antarctic icecap an indicator of a paleoclimate, with the history of its processes being one of the primary tasks of the lithospheric plate theory.

PEACE AMBASSADORS

During the sea part of the exploration program the crew made port calls to New Zealand’s Wellington, Australia’s Adelaide, as well as Cape Town and Hamburg. There the crew not only set up tours of the ship, but also met leading scientists of universities, geological services and sailors.

Particularly important was a meeting with Douglas Mawson of the University of Adelaide, a.k.a. Nansen of the Southern Hemisphere. Mawson made the study of Australia’s Antarctic his life-long endeavor. Having visited Ob’, the scientists invited his Soviet to the university and presented them with impressions collected in the course of his researches. Quite an impact was made by Australia’s Minister of Lands, who were present at the meetings.

A week spent in Hamburg proved to be equally fruitful in terms of starting international contacts.

Our scientists made several presentations and consultations covering a variety of issues to include the construction of the first German icebreaker Polarstern, which was supposed to become a counterpart of Ob’ as far as her performance went.

The experience of the Soviet vessel proved to be extremely valuable in her construction and outfitting. Exchanges of articles, books and maps followed the briefings. Russian scientists later took part in several expeditions to both poles aboard the German icebreaker.

Scientific ties ensued in the continental Arctic as well. Many foreign researches stayed in Mirny over winters, while Soviet

scientists were often put up aboard of stations of other nations. Not least important was

assistance extended to each other when aircraft and helicopters were caught

in distress.Finally, discussions of joint efforts

in the Antarctic led to a triumphant agreement signed by 12 countries on December 2, 1959, effectively

a waiver of their rights for the territory of the pole, proclaiming the sixth

continent free for researches and off limits for deployment of military units or industrial facilities.

This turned the Antrarctic into the world’s largest reserve, celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The duration of the agreement is unlimited. It paved the way for our science to the Southern Hemisphere up to the Southern Pole and parts of the Southern Ocean adjacent to it. This is yet another evidence of the effectiveness of interaction of researches and their initiative in solving major global issues.

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RESEARCHES IN THE ANTARCTIC PAVES THE WAY FOR NEW STUDIES IN PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY, AND OCEAN GEOLOGY

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Soviet research station Mirny. The 34th Soviet Antarctic expedition,autumn 1988 – spring 1989.

THE THICKNESS OF ICE IN THE EASTERN ANTARCTIC, BASED ON THE SEISMIC DATA COLLECTED DURING THE COMPREHENSIVE ARCTIC EXPEDITION, SECTIONED ALONG THE INACCESSIBILITY POLE – MIRNY LINE; THE BEDROCK AND ROCK-AND-ICE LAYER CONTOURS.

The arrow shows the general direction of the ice motion from an altitude of 2-4km to the level of ocean (left) resulting in the generation of “iceberg estuaries” opening to the ocean

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Laid down in August 1956 at the Admiralty Shipyard, the ship was built within the shortest possible timeframe –

she was floated out no later than in 16 months. Her unique features boosted the exploration of the Northern Sea Route to a new level.

Having combined their efforts, Russian shipbuilders created a unique and so far, unsurpassed Nuclear Icebreaker Fleet over the past 60 years, giving our country an edge in implementation of new Arctic projects for decades to come.

The year 2018 witnessed the birth of three icebreakers, delivered by the United Shipbuilding Corp. (USC), namely Evgeny Primakov, Alexander Sannikov, and Andrey Vilkitsky. Today, work is apace at the Baltic Shipyard to build three 60mW Project 22220 giant icebreakers.

One has to note that this sector is one of the prominent trends in the world. USC possesses everything there is to design and build special ice-capable vessels. Taking full advantage of the enormous experience generated by predecessors, USC’s staff are engaged in new projects, continuing down the glorious path of shipbuilding development in Russia.

TO THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NUCLEAR ICEBREAKER FLEET

The history of Russia’s Nuclear Icebreaker Fleet dates back to December 3, 1959, when a state committee signed a certificate, approving the world’s first-ever nuclear-powered civilian vessel for operation, the icebreaker Lenin

PAGESOF GLORYHISTORY

Project 10580 nuclearice-breaker Vaygach

Arctic-class nuclear ice-breaker Sovetsky Soyuz (Project 10521), built at the Baltic Shipyard

Project 10521 nuclear ice-breaker

Yamal

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Project 10521 Arctic-class nuclearice-breaker 50 let Pobedy(Russian for 50 years of the Victory)

Project 10081 ice-breaker transport vessel (LASH carrier) Sevmorput(Russian for Northern Sea Route)

The floating out of the world’s first nuclearice-breaker Lenin at the Admiralty Shipbuilding Plant

(today known as Admiralty Shipyards)on December 5, 1957

Project 10521 nuclear ice-breaker Rossiya(Russian for Russia)

Project 22220 nuclearice-breaker Arctic

The launch of the Project 22220 nuclear ice-breaker Uralat the Baltic Shipyard on May 25, 2019

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he wardroom of the icebreaker Krasin moored at Vasilyevsky Island gathered prominent shipbuilders, scientists and officials – those who call the shots in development of Russia’s North and pave the way for its exploration. Present were USC’s President Alexei Rakhmanov, Deputy Minister of Transport Yury Tsvetkov, Rosatom’s Deputy Director General Vyacheslav Ruksha, Head of the Kurchatov Institute Alexander Blagov, Alexander Makarov running the Arctic and Antarctic Institute, as well as numerous heads of shipyards, parented by the Corp., and directors of museums and experts engaged in the sector. They met to make sure they remained on the same page for it is their decisions and fine-tuned actions that shape the success of the Arctic development.

It is not fortuitous that they met aboard Krasin. It is this class of icebreakers that paved the way for exploration of Russia’s North. In the early 20th century, this ship (christened Svyatogor at the time) constructed at Armstrong Whitworth in Newcastle, GB, seemed the pinnacle in engineering. However, today Krasin of colossal size looks like a toy compared to the giants of the new family of Russian general-purpose icebreakers, Project 22220.

There is no way to overestimate the importance of the exploration of the Northern Sea Route. Its cargo traffic is to jump to 80 mln. tones in 2024 and continue rising to 100 mln. tones through 2035, provided everything stays on track. However, even today’s indicator has hit an all-time high by all means. According to Mustafa Kashka, heading Atomflot, this year’s cargo traffic reached almost 30 mln. tones, a fivefold jump from the USSR’s level. Yet there is much to do to build up the fleet capacity further.

“All in all, besides the icebreakers we will need 200-plus ice-capable ships to carry cargo from the Arctic. These include bulk freighters and super-tankers for handling LNG and oil,” says Deputy Minister of Transport Yury Tsvetkov.

The construction of the Project 22220 icebreakers is aimed at providing uninterrupted 24/7 operation of Gazprom Neft’s oil terminal Arctic Gates, Sabetta in the interest of the Yamal LNG project, as well as another large terminal looming on

GRAVITY POLEOne of the series of events celebrating the 60th anniversaryof the Nuclear-powered Icebreaker Fleet was a round table hostedby USC’s President Alexei Rakhmanov aboard the Krasin icebreaker. The participants discussed the role of shipbuilding and navigationin exploration of the Northern Sea Route and developmentof the Arctic territories

MIKHAIL USTINOVColumnist

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Participants of the round tableaboard Krasin

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60 YEARS OF THE NUCLEAR ICEBREAKER FLEETROUND TABLE

the horizon, Arctic LNG-2. “These two projects will propel Russia to the level of 6-8 percent of the world LNG production volume. But the fleet is of the essence. We need to have another five nuclear icebreakers by 2025,” notes Vyacheslav Ruksha, the Director of the Norther Sea Route. According to the official, by the mid-2030s, major cargo ways on the route will have turned east, granting Russia for the first time ever in its history a unimpeded access to markets in the Pacific, with USC playing a major hand in making it possible.

The approach to the North exploration, now more systemic and focused on the future, has changed as well. All participants of the round table echoed the idea that it was essential to plan 15-20 years ahead. Needed are hydrographic surveys and routing for navigation of large ships, as well as emergency response and safety protocols, communications arrangements and development of the regional energy sector.

Apart from the construction of icebreakers, an area where the Russian shipbuilders are the recognized world leaders, USC’s specialists are engaged in development of robotic underwater platforms. Work is apace at the Sredne-Nevskiy Shipyard to build the automated research vessel Pioner-M, while spring 2019 witnessed the laying down at Admiralty Shipyards of the Severny Polus, a floating laboratory for conducting a great diversity of researches, self-sustained in ice conditions and boasting a mind-boggling endurance for a conventional craft of two years.

The year 2019 was declared the Year of Science at USC. And it very much resonates with the occasion. Half a century all major scientific endeavors were channeled away from Earth. The solar system became better known to humans than the world ocean. Only think that people reached the Northern pole aboard the Arktika icebreaker only in 1977, 16 years after the first space flight. The challenge of overcoming gravity turned out to be an easier thing to do than to plough the way through the ice field of northern seas.

However, the exploration of the North was a bigger factor, encouraging technological development. It shows in the development of the first nuclear-powered icebreaker. The project resulted in enormous scientific groundwork: conducted were numerous studies of materials, nuclear interactions and chemical aspects of

reactors, methods for calculation of physical fields were developed and biological protection issues were solved. These once put the Russian shipbuilders ahead of its counterparts in the world and still bear fruits. Today, as 60 years ago, Russia faces global challenges, requiring a joint and united response. The time has come for another united endeavor.

The USSR attributed much significance to the exploration of the world ocean. Many of the Soviet discoveries are still relevant on the global scale. This said, the Arctic exploration calls for more knowledge. The year 2019 saw the first in two-plus decades large-scale high-latitude Arctic expedition encompassing all seas of the Arctic ocean, namely Transarctic 2019. Scientists are going the whole nine yards, studying the bottom, the composition of ice, ocean and atmosphere.

In 2021, the UN is to kick off the implementation of its program Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Museums’ contribution to the ocean exploration is not least important for they bringing up the interest in seas and shipbuilding and are engaged in serious researches. Svetlana Sivkova, running the Kaliningrad-based Museum of the World Ocean, approached USC to secure assistance in preserving museum ships and their hulls. In her address the curator suggested that a number of historical ships, including Lenin, Vityaz and Krasin, be granted the status of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites, as well as put forward the initiative of naming one of the icebreakers in construction Svyatogor. It is not fortuitous, since it is the would-be namesake, later renamed into Krasin, that led the way in the active exploration of the Northern Sea Route.

Many young people lament that they were born into the wrong period: too early for flights to other planets and too late for exploration of Earth. But they are wrong, for it is here in Russia’s North a new front has been established for future researches and explorations. Ignored in the 20th century, it has to be taken care of in the 21st. USC believes that thorough researches, ecosystem preservation and thoughtful utilization of the world ocean resources are essential ways for future development of the whole humanity.

Deputy Minister of Transport –Head of Rosmorrechflot Yury Tsvetkovand USC’s President Alexei Rakhmanov

Deputy Director General of Rosatom –Director of the Northern Sea Route Vyacheslav Ruksha

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The world trend of turning knowledge into assets and USC’s desire to better utilize our intellectual capital in boosting competitive advantages paved the way for establishing a knowledge management system in USC

Time to collect knowledge

e consider knowledge as an asset, allowing humans or organizations to take right decisions, be responsive and act effectively in certain conditions.

WHY MANAGING KNOWLEDGE

It would be false to say that USC did not do it before. We did stockpile hard and soft copies of documents, train personnel and young specialists, practice mentoring and apprenticeship, inspire innovative mindset, take part in industry conferences, bring together experts for research and technical councils. But these classic approaches fell short of the desired goal, particularly given the fact that not all facilities of the corporation were consistent in the employment of this array of measures and approaches.

Last year an effort was mounted to study the current state of knowledge management in USC, accumulating requirements and expectation of managers and employees from

the performance of the future system and analyzing best practices in Russia and abroad. This resulted in USC adopting this spring a knowledge management concept and roadmap for its implementation.

The system that we are creating will let the corporation address problems of accessing the knowledge base, cutting redundancy in development, repeating errors, or loosing critical knowledge or competences for that matter. It would be in order to note that the platform will be of a general nature, encompassing the entire corporation and combining the employees of all facilities, which broadens the scope in terms of the number of fields that we will be able to cover. On the downside are limitations, deriving from commercial interests of individual companies.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Our knowledge management system comes in the form of new processes and procedures to be integrated into the routine of all our employees. These include convenient and modern IT-tools, as well as measures, aimed at shifting the corporate culture towards informational transparency, readiness to share knowledge both at the level

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POINTS OF GROWTHKNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

YEKATERINA LARINAProject Manager, Department of Technical Development, USC

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of enterprises and employees.This year efforts are about to

kick off to develop an information and technological platform with a smart knowledge base being at its core. We will teach the platform in semi-automatic mode, check uniqueness of data entities and classify them, monitor violations of copyrights and allied rights, screen for irrelevant data, generate analyses and reports, and provide the database with an advanced intellectual search engine.

This said, it is not the AI that will have the upper hand in the system, but rather experts, employees of USC, possessing knowledge and expertise in a certain area. They will be able to provide reasoned opinions on various issues, verify knowledge, advise colleagues on solving problems, and share their experience on their own blog. While the process of listing such unique specialists is still in progress, we are resolved to initiate a special policy for them to keep them at USC and facilitate the knowledge sharing with young personnel. This way we want to stop the drain of knowledge and expertise associated with the departure or retirement of key experts.

What to add to the base will rest with the heads of companies, USC’s scientific and technical council, and rank and file members. Any employee will be able to suggest something for publishing. As soon as it is checked and approved by experts, the data will become part of the database.

The project will envisage such tools as ‘accumulation of lessons learned and best practices’ and ‘analysis of the completed project results.’ This way the knowledge of experience gained by enterprises, cutting-edge technologies and solutions developed and tested, solutions to various technological and design problems will proliferate. Obviously, the initiative will cut down the time and resources needed to carry out tasks, for which effective solutions have already been found.

Provisions have been made to have the new system encompass so called implicit knowledge, always present in the conscience, behavior, perceptions

of each person and manifesting in his or her expertise, skills, intuition, and views.

For transmitting such knowledge, we also have multiple tools at hand, including mentoring programs, presentations of best practices at various corporate events, professional communities

and meetings with experts, video interviews with experts, as well as their blogs and forums based on the information and technical platform of the system.

At later stages the system can be augmented by an idea bank, intra-corporate crowdsourcing sub-system, resource exchange and predictive support system, providing a user with information stored in the data base, which is relevant to the work he or she is performing on the computer.

EVERYBODY GAINS

The adoption of the system will prove to be instrumental in stockpiling and developing data bases in shipbuilding, taking more effective management, design and production decisions, identifying and implementing over and over again ‘best practices’, as well as transferring knowledge to future generations. Besides, the system will come in handy for hedging risks, related to the loss of critical expertise, and supporting innovative and technical development processes.

It is engineers, specialists and designers who will gain most of all, for the system grants them access to knowledge and information, which otherwise cannot be found anywhere, let alone in the Internet. It will let them communicate with key expert on USC’s staff and share experience, get heard by their colleagues and recognized by the professional community.

For implementation of the pilot project USC shortlisted Admiralty Shipyards, Vympel design office, Baltic Shipyard, and Onega Research and Development Technological Bureau. Look for the first results in no more than a year.

IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE

IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE IS GAINED DURING PRACTICAL OPERATIONS AND CAN ONLY

BE EXTENDED TO ANOTHER PERSON PARTIALLY AND VOLUNTARILY

WE ALWAYS KNOW MORE THAN WE CAN SAY, AND WE WILL ALWAYS SAY MORE THAN WE CAN

WRITE DOWN

THERE IS NO WAY TO MAKE AN INVENTORY OF OUR

OWN KNOWLEDGE, AT EACH PARTICULAR MOMENT WE KNOW ONLY WHAT

WE KNOW AT THAT MOMENT

IN REAL SITUATIONS THE KNOWLEDGE THAT WE NEED

WILL MANIFEST ITSELF

FAILURE TEACHES US MORE THAN SUCCESS

For USC, as any other large corporation, engaged in designingand manufacturing hi-tech products, the issue of stockpiling, systematization

and distribution of professional knowledge is very much alive

ALEXANDERSOLOVYEVDirector General

of the Vyborg Shipyard

We believe that if treated seriously, the implementation of the project will let us escape scores of errors both in the design and construction phases,

step up dramatically the technical level of maritime equipment and

labor efficiency.

SERGEYKUNIN

Chief engineerwith the Shiprepairing Center

Zvyozdochka

The project has everything there is to encompass a great

diversity of knowledge in shipbuilding and maintenance. Given its

emphasis on the exchange of data between companies, the system

will have a positive impact on construction and maintenance terms

and costs.

EVGENYZUDIN

Director Generalof the 10 Shipyard

We believe that the knowledge management system will set up

favorable conditions for generating solutions to general problems, facing many of us in our trade, and making

impact on the import substitution initiative.

ALEXANDER YESHCHENKO

Deputy Director Generalof the Baltic Shipyard

(2018)

We believe that the pilot project will become a solid platform for

sharing experience and expertise, thus boosting USC’s research and

technical potential.

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The center covering 1,500m2 houses around 3 dozen scaled models of military ships and submarines, constructed for the Russian

Ministry of Defense and foreign partners. Besides, it offers multimedia materials on USC’s activities and provides a huge business area, including multiple rooms for negotiations and a conference hall. Guests

are welcome to put on 3D glasses and go on a tour of a shipyard and see how ships are built thanks to a virtual reality zone powered by the FutuRift system.

It is not unheard for the center to gather prominent figures. Among those who have already been there are Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and his deputy Gulnaz Kadyrova, Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu, Advisor to

the Minister of Education Andrey Petrov, representatives of enterprises of USC, UAC, Rosmorport, Atomenergomash, Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Science, Military Academy of the General Staff, etc.

The place hosts round tables, conferences, contract signing ceremonies, celebrations of various USC’s special occasions, as well as exhibitions. Shipbuilders and visiting experts engage in discussions of priorities of Russia’s maritime policy and trends in the development of military and commercial shipbuilding, role of shipbuilding in strengthening the naval potential of Russia and its role in the economic power and many other not less significant issues.

A special aspect of the center’s activity profile is tours for students and undergraduates, who can learn a couple of things about the corporation and the impact of shipbuilding on the economy and life of the country. Folks are particularly attracted to models of the most advanced ships and submarines, comprising pride and glory of the Russian Navy today.

EMBASSYOF SHIPBUILDINGThe most advanced demonstrations center of the United Shipbuilding Corp. (USC) on the premises of the Patriot park, Russia, was established in preparation for the International Military and Technical Forum Army 2017 and since then has grown into a platform hosting the most interesting events, both intracorporate and those of a larger magnitude, impacting the entire shipbuilding industry

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FIRSTHANDUSC’S PREMISES

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>>

Artist Zinaida Yusova – a member of the Moscow Union of Artists, Russia’s Union of Artists, winner of Russian and international contests. She authored the project Russia’s Industry, demonstrating the renaissance and development of various sectors in our country. Since Zinaida pictures industrial life, some of her pieces are about shipbuilding. Coincidently it happened that the grand project kicked off with a picture of the Astrakhan-based Lotos shipbuilding plant

ALENA KARIMOVA

SHOWING RUSSIA STRONG

APPROVED INTERVIEW WITH AN ARTIST

– Zinaida, would you please tell us how you ended up at Lotos?

– I went to the Astrakhan region to picture steps, poppies, salt lakes, Astrakhan’s architecture. I roamed over the entire city, capturing various sites. Collected a book of pictures. But then it occurred to me that there was nothing about the Volga river in it. It was not good, since the city and river are an item. During my third trip there I ended up at Lotos. It opened a different city to me: Astrakhan Diesel Locomotive Repair Plant, Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan, Lukoil-

Nizhnevolzhskneft, Zavodskaya Solar Power Station. These started my industrial endeavor. Painted nine facilities in Astrakhan, each of them done in a different style with different techniques applied. All in all, including pictures of the city, I had 150 graphic drawings and 30 paintings.

Lotos gave me the first impression of a real and functioning industry. At the time the plant was engaged in the construction of an RST27 chemical tanker and PV300VD cruise ship. They had just started the latter when I came. It was the very birth of the ship. Having been granted access to the plant, it dawned on me that the Russian industry was entering a new huge loop of its development. It comes in various shapes and colors at different facilities, but the magnitude and scale are always great.

My series of paintings expanded, encompassing other facilities, including those of Lukoil and Gazprom. I saw fields of solar panels, food industry enterprises, canning plants, saw how they grew young sturgeons to let them go into the river. Then all that I managed to capture in the city – impressed by everything I saw there – paved the way for an exhibition, hosted by the Astrakhan State Art Gallery.

What other cities did you go?– St. Petersburg. There I went to

the Baltic Shipyard, saw the launch of the Ural icebreaker. Visited the construction site of the Nord Stream project. Went to a compressor plant, hydroelectric plant, nuclear power plant... I have been to around 60 facilities in the past

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two years. In Tyumen, I pictured a dozen ZapSibNeftekhim’s facilities and a plywood manufacturing plant. Wherever I go, I do my best to explore the place meticulously. I have also been to the Far East at Zvezda and Blagoveshchensk at one of Gazprom’s plats there.

– Does anybody else in Russia do things like what you do?

– I think I am the first modern artist in the world, who have been to so many complex and functioning facilities. Since all of them are off-limits to outsiders, it is quite a challenge to get inside. I guess the endeavor already invoked some disciples.

– What makes you travel to other parts of Russia? You are a Muscovite, aren’t you?

– True, I am also with the Moscow Union of Artists. Finished a regular high school and a school of art, where I was invited to teach immediately afterwards. I am a teacher by my first training. Over the 21 years that I spent there I taught painting, drawing, design, graphic art – quite a variety of subjects.

– Why then is you interest in industry?

– Having finished school, I joined the Aerospace Department of the Moscow Aviation Institute and an art college simultaneously. Ultimately, I settled for the art training with an emphasis made on pedagogical skills, since I wanted to teach.

However, I have always been attracted by equipment. I am a designer by my second training. I also finished the Academy of Arts. Taught 10 years at the Balakirev Children School of Arts.

Being the largest in Europe, it trains 300 children in the painting section. Add their parents and try to imagine the magnitude of the community! At 18, I had 1,000 trainees, whom I met and was responsible for. Then I went on to lecture at a higher education institution for another 10 years. In the past three years, I have been into painting

and drawing industrial pictures, which took me a bit off the teaching path. But this aspect

is not abandoned by any means, for time and again it emerges at exhibitions, since I believe it is essential not only to show industry to people, who are fond of art, but tell our younger generation about professions, which are not much talked

about but still very important. I take pleasure in running workshops to children and taking them on tours of exhibitions.

– Well then there is an educational aspect to the project, isn’t it?

– It is indeed. And to this end, the essential thing is to cooperate with facilities and enterprises, since for every new picture that I take up drawing or painting I ask professionals to tell me about their trade. In the USSR we used to have a separate trend, namely industrial painting. However, when we come across pieces of art, created by Soviet artists, they offer just enough information to guess what facility is depicted without any further detail whatsoever. What is going inside, what kind of a project is apace – these are left beyond the picture. Meanwhile, there are some incredible industrial installations, one might find it great to learn more about them. Say, a water-cooling tower. At first, when you come across it looks like an unbelievably heavy facility. But then you find out that it rests on 2m metal legs and has nothing inside. But it supports all this hulk of equipment and gear, holding various pipes, through which steam is fed and cooled, and condensed into water, which then falls down to a huge basin.

– Yes, a very illustrative example of how what we think of things around us may not correspond to the real state of affairs.

– Exactly what happened to my imagination of Russia. The Internet is abundant with pictures of once powerful, but already derelict plants. Seems that everything is broken here, the whole place is coming apart. But as soon as you get

Plate KrasniyeBarrikadyof the Paradny set, porcelain

Project RST 25\7,sculpture, steel

APPROVEDINTERVIEW WITH AN ARTIST

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to an industrial facility, it starts dawning on you that everything is absolutely different. To give you an example, once I went to Gazprom’s installation in the Kapotnya area, Moscow, where a new oil refinery is being erected. Though it is going to be the most compact in Russia, the plant will replace its predecessor entirely. When you get there, everything is comfortable and convenient. It is far more ecological. Interestingly, but a nuclear power plant can go through almost the same transformation. While its old reactor is shut down and cooling, a new one, based on different technologies and processes, is already up and running. That is a huge step forward and several years into the future another one will be made, taking them even further.

– Do you find it interesting watching it happen?

– It is fascinating! At the beginning I did not work on the premises, but now I try to make arrangements to paint right there at the shop. It is very important, for no media can replace a real thing.

– People go about their business at the shop and you work alongside, something like that?

– Yes, but you have to go through a complex process making necessary arrangements. And then you will have three to four of the staff assigned to you at all times. It is more about my safety. Off-limit

places always remain that even for me. Thus, on day one I ask to have a tour of the entire operation and then the next two-three days I paint from life. Time is luxury in such matters, because I have to capture the colors, feel them, prepare the right mix to carry on to the canvas a specific moment. Give it 15 minutes and you face a different frame – lighting conditions are different, colors are different, etc. In a sense I do more of sketching. It is essential for an artist to capture a moment fast because it will not last forever. You freeze it. I draw first, but then I also have to pick right colors, otherwise I will have to commit them to my memory and reproduce later. There are pictures, which take you years to finish, keeping this feeling of colors all this time...

– Painting industrial facilities, is it more a trade or art?

– An artist needs to fall in love with what he or she does. For example, if you want to draw an aluminum cup. You won’t be able to, unless you fall in love with it. You have to feel it first. Why is it important to find the right angle, lighting conditions, capture feeling? Because without these you will produce a photo, not even an art

photo. Lack of emotions turns you into a “dead” artist. If you are not interested, why observers would be. And one can feel it right away. It is not

catchy, simple as that. Of course, you can’t do without professionalism, it has to be in the hands. Practice is of the essence.

– Is it difficult to fall in love with a nuclear reactor?

– I feel all right about it, have no qualms if you will. For example, when I came to Lotos, where I had a sheet of metal for a canvas, I cast my look at the machine, cutting it as if it were paper, and it brought up handicraft in my memory. I had a pattern, and this machine cut it similar to what happened at garment manufacturing plants. The only difference is that there pieces are stitched together, while here they are welded.

I can weld and actually do it when I make sculptures. But this cutting technology, it was something new for me. I was introduced to the specialist, operating the plant. explained him what I wanted. I thought vectors, which I mastered working in photo-editing apps, would do fine here. But I was told that it would not work here, that I needed a more complex drawing, done in AutoCAD, a professional computer-aided drafting system, of which I knew nothing at all.

A book, telling the story of the city, its history, traditions, impact of industry on the development of the region

Art object Astrakhan, steelmaking wooden die blocks, glass, graphicand illumination

>>

56 / USC №3 (39) 2019

I approached my brother, who happened to be an engineer. He looked at my sketches and shook his head, “Zina, it is impossible!” But I did not give up. Having summoned my brother for help, I managed to figure out how to work the app. I spent a whole day in front of the computer, did not even wake up, and I created my first AutoCAD image.

It was not all. We were limited by the standard 1,600х6,000mm page. But I wanted to go beyond it to get an ultimate authentic image. Having obtained revised specs, I prepared another drawing. After getting my AutoCAD drawing, engineers started looking for ways to help me. They got genuinely involved, everybody came to my assistance.

When it was finished and exposed to the light at the right angle, the picture took shape. We were overwhelmed. After lunch, workers passed the bent sheet, looked at it, discussing what was it and how it had been done.

Here, you do not just see you endeavor, but rather become part of a process. What really matters is that you can see the feedback of those, working with you... Then electricians stepped in. It took them two whole days to figure out the right illumination. Needless to say, that we needed crane operators as well for it was extremely heavy. Turned out that we constructed the piece almost like a ship. Almost the entire plant was involved!

– I saw wonderful porcelain services of the Imperial Porcelain Factory of St. Petersburg, decorated with your industrial scapes.

– Yes, it is the Paradny set, manufactured for the exhibition in Astrakhan. Now it consists of 15 plates and I keep adding more pieces to it for the exhibition. Painted on them are the PV300

cruise ship, RST27 tanker, and a wellhead platform still in production at the Astrakhan Shipbuilding Production Association.

Recently, I finished another two paintings dedicated to the launch of the icebreaker Ural, but they will be unveiled when I finish the set.

– Where do the finished pieces end up?

– I let the museum have some of them and keep the others for myself as I want to set up a huge exhibition in Moscow.

Besides, I started getting invitations from plants. They want me as an artist. Took me two years to carve a name here, gain reputation.

Now it is easier, more interesting. I get something new every time. I am also fond of telling people about regions, strong points, industry making a comeback and developing at an astonishing pace, showing Russia strong and modern.

Elektrostal Tyumen Metallurgical Plant, oil on canvas (left)Antipinsky Oil Refinery, oil on canvas (right)

APPROVEDINTERVIEW WITH AN ARTIST

Tyumen Plywood Plant,oil on canvas

STRENGTH AND POWER AT SEA

Project 10521 nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory)

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SINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ADMIRALTY SHIPYARDS

YEARSSINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SEVMASH

YEARS

№3 (39) 2019

CONQUERORS OF ICE

60 YEARS OF THE NUCLEAR ICEBREAKERFLEET

65TH ANNIVERSARY OF RUSSIA'S LEADING SHIPBUILDER



GuidinGsTar

ADMIRALTY SHIPYARDS MARKS THE 315TH ANNIVERSARY

p. 05

80 YEARS OF THE GRAND PROJECT SEVMASH

p. 10 p. 26

FEATURE ONE

MAGAZINE OF THE UNITED SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION

FEATURE ONE CONQUERORS 60 YEARS · p. 10 p. 26. FEATURE ONE. MAGAZINE . OF THE UNITED SHIPBUILDING...

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Transcript of FEATURE ONE CONQUERORS 60 YEARS · p. 10 p. 26. FEATURE ONE. MAGAZINE . OF THE UNITED SHIPBUILDING...