Early 1990s for the Black Sea plant was marked by great changes. And these changes were by no means for the better. This was far from the first crisis period that the company experienced. The first time this happened during the Civil War and immediately after it. Then, ruined and devastated after the intervention and numerous changes of power, the plant almost completely stopped shipbuilding. It had to be reorganized, gradually and with great difficulty. By the mid-20s. the Andre Marty plant completed the remaining warships in Nikolaev and carried out ship repair work.
ChSZ panorama
What we have - we do not store …
Through the efforts of the entire Soviet people, by the end of the 1930s. the enterprise became one of the largest shipbuilding centers in the USSR, building various classes of ships: from patrol boats and submarines to icebreakers and light cruisers. The construction of the Project 23 battleship “Sovetskaya Ukraina” began - the largest order ever carried out by the plant. For the construction of "Soviet Ukraine" and other ships of the latest projects, the enterprise was modernized and expanded. A new slipway was erected for large orders, special workshops were built, including for the assembly of turret installations of the main caliber. New equipment was supplied in large quantities, new technologies and production were mastered.
On June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began, changing the course and rhythm of life of the whole country - the Black Sea Shipyard also made a significant contribution to its defense. Hastily completed those ships that were in a high degree of readiness. The production of various weapons was mastered. However, the unfavorable development of hostilities put Nikolaev under the threat of capture by the enemy. The evacuation began. Equipment was taken out, unfinished ships were taken in tow to Sevastopol and further, to the ports of the Caucasian coast.
In August 1941 Nikolaev was occupied by Nazi troops. And again a difficult period of its life began for the plant - even more difficult than during the Civil War. The invaders planned to integrate the enterprise into their industrial structure, focusing it on small and medium ship repair, and in the future, possibly, to launch small-scale shipbuilding production. However, the plans of the enemy were far from being realized. The use of the intact facilities of the Chernomorskiy shipyard (during the years of occupation, which was named "Yuzhnaya Verf") proved to be very difficult for many reasons, and not the least of them was the activity of the Soviet underground in Nikolaev.
Through their efforts, the floating dock was put out of action, and other sabotage was carried out. The city was liberated by Soviet troops at the end of March 1944. Retreating, the German troops worked thoroughly in the destruction of the Nikolaev enterprises. The Black Sea plant was almost entirely in ruins: out of 700 buildings, only two remained intact.
The restoration of the enterprise began the very next day after the return of Soviet power. Factory workers and employees began to clear the ruins. A lot of things had to be simply rebuilt - most of the factory equipment was either destroyed or badly damaged. Part of it was evacuated back in the summer of 1941, and now all this was gradually returned to its place. By joint efforts, the shipbuilding giant was restored by the end of the 1940s. and began to fulfill its direct purpose - to build ships.
The renovated plant was gradually gaining momentum - its workshops, in their significant majority, were erected anew. ChSZ builds warships and vessels for the national economy. Builds cruisers, submarines, whaling bases, bulk carriers and trawlers. In the early 1960s, the Chernomorsky Plant, the only one in the USSR, began to build aircraft-carrying cruisers: first, anti-submarine helicopter carriers, and then heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers.
These were completely new ships for our shipbuilding industry, the experience of building which domestic shipbuilders did not have. Therefore, much had to be done for the first time, often by touch, by trial and error. Experience was gradually acquired, the necessary knowledge and skills were accumulated and accumulated. In parallel with the shipbuilding process, the enterprise was being reconstructed for new labor-intensive production tasks.
From the late 1960s - early 1970s. The Black Sea Plant began another large-scale reconstruction, which was supposed to ensure the construction of aircraft-carrying ships. It continued in parallel with the construction of orders for the navy and for the needs of the national economy of the USSR. In the late 1970s - early 1980s, the plant purchased and installed powerful Finnish-made gantry cranes with a lifting capacity of 900 tons each. This and other measures made it possible to equip the slipway complex, which was the largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world in terms of mechanization and size. The presence of gantry cranes made it possible to assemble the ship's hulls on the slipway in large blocks weighing over 11 thousand tons.
The plant was on the verge of a new stage in the development of domestic aircraft-carrying ships - heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers of project 1143.5 and 1143.6, equipped with a springboard, aerofinishers and intended for basing aircraft with a horizontal takeoff and landing method. They were to be replaced by ships with a nuclear power plant of project 1143.7.
For the future serial construction of nuclear-powered heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers, it was planned to build a whole complex of new workshops, in which it was planned to manufacture and assemble ship nuclear power plants. The total area of this complex was supposed to be more than 50 thousand square meters. meters - an additional section was reclaimed to accommodate them.
By the end of the 1980s. Without exaggeration, the Black Sea Shipyard was at the peak of its industrial development, being one of the leading enterprises in the shipbuilding industry. However, such a long, strenuous and laborious ascent to the top was interrupted by a quick, merciless and crushing fall.
… And when we lose, we cry
The country was shaking from the intensifying political fever. More and more I wanted to hold a meeting, and not work. Changes were needed, just necessary, and urgent. But what emerged from the grotesque picture called "perestroika" began to look more and more like an avalanche sweeping away everything in its path. After all, when a well-built house burns down and collapses, this is also a change …
Centrifugal processes, which are difficult to classify as constructive, began to affect all segments of the state. Industry, of course, was no exception. Already in 1990, the Chernomorsky Plant began to feel serious disruptions in the supply of the necessary equipment and materials, but the production process did not stop. After August 1991, the obvious destruction of the USSR began, Ukraine proclaimed its independence, Leonid Makarovich Kravchuk impressively promised that the construction of aircraft carriers would continue, and the people believed in these “obitsyanki-tsyatsyanki”.
In the autumn of the same year, the command of the navy stopped funding the ships in the factory building. In February 1992, construction was frozen for an indefinite period, which more and more gave infinity. As a result of a skillful swindle of enterprising US citizens and lack of experience and competence in the new conditions of commercial activity, the nuclear-powered heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Ulyanovsk, which was on the slipway, was enthusiastically cut.
Having lost military orders, which were the main production segment and the main source of funding, the Black Sea plant was forced to adapt to new conditions. Initially, it seemed that the difficult times would soon end, the military shipbuilding would get better again, and the plant would start working again at full strength. True, no one imagined how all this could be adjusted. So far, having lost to a greater extent government orders, the management of the enterprise has embarked on a course of cooperation with foreign customers.
Already at the beginning of 1992, a contract was successfully signed for the construction of tankers with a deadweight of 45 thousand tons for a Norwegian customer. In March 1992, the first tanker for the Norwegians was laid down on slipway number 1 and received the designation order 201.
On September 14, 1992, when the gas cutters was hastily shredding the last sections left over from the nuclear-powered Ulyanovsk, a second tanker, order 202, was laid on slipway number 0. However, for a number of reasons, in early 1993, this contract was canceled. Nevertheless, the Black Sea Shipyard continued to be in the field of vision of foreign customers. Its still significant and well-established production capacity, quality of its products and relative cheapness in comparison with foreign enterprises were serious arguments in favor of business cooperation.
The Greek company "Avin International", which was part of the economic empire of the notorious Vardinoyannis clan, became interested in the opportunities of the enterprise. The Vardinoyannis family is one of the richest and most influential in Greece. She is well known in the international arena as well. The founder of the family business Vardis Vardinoyannis was born in 1933 in Crete into a family of farmers. Then he moved to Greece, went into business and quite successfully. He had five children who also continued the family business, turning his business into a de facto multinational corporation, engaged in a variety of industries - from shipbuilding and oil transportation to media companies and book publishing.
Avin International, controlled by Yannis Vardinoyannis, the son of the founder of the family business, has started cooperation with the Black Sea plant. Avin International specializes in the transportation of oil and is one of the world's largest independent companies involved in this lucrative business. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the CMEA and other structures that were an alternative to the Western economy, provided the business circles of the West with tremendous opportunities in the face of pristine and free markets.
The business of not the poorest Greek family flourished, including oil transportation. The management of Avin International, taking advantage of this convenient opportunity, decided to replenish its tanker fleet by building four product tankers with a deadweight of 45 thousand tons on the stocks of the Black Sea plant. The project of the tanker 17012 was developed by the Nikolaev design bureau "Chernomorsudoproekt". The lead tanker "Kriti Amber" was launched in an unusually solemn atmosphere on June 4, 1994. The ceremony was attended by members of the Vardinoyannis family, a large number of businessmen, including representatives of insurance companies.
After a successful descent, as usual, a banquet was organized. One of the American businessmen present, a banker-creditor of the customer, asked what kind of a very decent-looking establishment that was hosting the unofficial part of the ceremony. Obviously built specifically for banquets? When an employee of the plant, who speaks English, answered him that this was a working canteen, the American was very surprised and noticed that he had never seen such a thing in his country.
Launching of the Greek tanker "Platinum"
The others followed the lead tanker. In February 1995, the Kriti Amethyst was launched, in May 1996, the Kriti Platinum was launched. Behind them are Pearl, Theodoros and Nikos. The construction of a series of tankers was completed in 2002. The enterprise, which recently built the most complex heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers, did not have much difficulty in building tankers. The proceeds from cooperation with Avin International allowed the Black Sea plant to last through the entire 1990s. and early 2000s.
Project 2020 floating base near the factory wall
However, the Greek tankers and their customers left, and the company again found itself alone with its own, growing like a snowball, problems. The state was in no hurry to build ships for its own needs, citing a chronic lack of money. There were no new foreign customers. The unfinished Varyag left in tow to China. It froze like a rusting block at the factory wall of the project 2020 floating base, the money for the completion of which was never received.
Unfinished trawlers at ChSZ
A difficult situation has arisen in the line production of fishing trawlers. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the solvency of the Ministry of Fisheries of Russia fell catastrophically, and the fish industry could not purchase trawlers in the same volumes for their needs. Several almost completed fishing boats were waiting for the transfer of money at the outfitting wall. The Ministry of Fisheries of Russia managed to buy some trawlers with great difficulty, but their production line was stopped.
Without perspectives
After the proclamation of Ukraine's independence, the opinion circulated among its politicians and military that the current independent state was nothing more than a formidable sea power. This assertion was supported by arguments from the Black Sea Fleet's shipbuilding staff located on the territory of the actual shipbuilding and ship-repairing plants in Nikolaev, Kherson, Feodosiya and Kerch, and by the regular publication of the illustrated magazine Morskaya Derzhava in Sevastopol.
But it turned out that proclaiming itself a naval power is somewhat easier than maintaining such a status. All the talks and promises of Pan Kravchuk about the "construction of aircraft carriers" remained just talk and promises. From the Soviet legacy at the Black Sea Plant under the new government, they were only able to finish building the Pridneprovye reconnaissance ship, which, in the absence of the necessary equipment, was converted into a headquarters ship and renamed Slavutich.
Having fulfilled the contract for the Greek customer, the Black Sea shipyard was left without work. Its huge production facilities, specialists with unique experience, high-tech equipment - all this turned out to be unclaimed in the new economic conditions. Gradually, the collective, once numerous, was reduced - workers and engineers began to quit en masse. Some went abroad to work in their specialty … Some tried to start their own business … Some completely changed the field of activity.
In 2003, the Black Sea Shipyard was excluded from the list of strategic enterprises not subject to sale. Small and large tenants flocked to the territory of the shipbuilding giant. The largest slipway in Europe remained empty and gradually began to overgrow with bushes. The shrub was soon supplemented by trees. A cargo transshipment center was located on the territory of the plant, most of the territory was rented by the company "Nibulon", which is engaged in the transportation of grain. The Black Sea Shipyard was privatized and eventually became part of the Smart-Holding group, owned by Vadim Novinsky.
In the second half of the 2000s, rumors circulating in the city about a possible resumption of the construction of warships at the Black Sea plant, it seemed, began to take on a more tangible form. On November 20, 2009, a commission of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine finally adopted a technical project for a multipurpose corvette that has been under development for 3 years, which received an index of 58250.
Ukrainian corvette 58250
Design activities to create such a ship for their own needs and possible export have been carried out in Ukraine since 2002. The initial project of corvette 58200 "Gaiduk-21", which was developed on its own initiative by the Kiev plant "Leninskaya Kuznitsa", was rejected, and since 2005 the Research and Design Center in Nikolaev has taken up this direction. According to the project, the corvette with a displacement of 2,650 tons was to be equipped with gas turbine engines produced by the Zarya-Mashproekt plant and to have several options for weapons with a predominance of those produced in European countries.
The laying down of the lead ship, named Vladimir the Great, took place on May 17, 2011. The cost of the lead ship was estimated at about 250 million euros. Until 2026, it was planned to build 10-12 such corvettes, some of which were intended for export.
Corvette 58250 in the ChSZ workshop
However, it turned out that even the construction of such a relatively small warship like a corvette was beyond the power of the Ukrainian economy. Funding has been intermittent. At the time of the final stop of construction in July 2014, only a few sections of the building were formed, the readiness of which is estimated to be no more than 40%. The fate of the corvette building program is still in the air.
In 2013, it seemed that the shipbuilding enterprises of Nikolaev had a chance to resume their activities. A Russian delegation headed by Dmitry Rogozin arrived in the city to conclude an agreement on cooperation in the technical industry. According to Rogozin himself, they were greeted very warmly and cordially. An understanding was reached on many issues. It is likely that the Nikolaev shipyards would receive orders from the Russian side, but the coup that took place in Kiev in the near future and subsequent events put a bold cross on these plans.
In recent years, the Chernomorsky Shipyard has survived only due to small and medium ship repairs and funds received from the lease of space. In the summer of 2017, the plant was declared bankrupt. Its future is uncertain, but it is already quite clear.
Epilogue
The Black Sea Shipyard was established 120 years ago to carry out extensive tasks not only of a commercial, but primarily of a military nature. Throughout its long and sometimes dramatic 100-year history, ChSZ tirelessly coped with its main task - the construction of ships. The plant's activities are inextricably linked with the life of the state, for the defense of which it worked. A state that knew both troubled times, and periods of rise and unprecedented power. Will new ships descend from the Black Sea stocks, or will the newly-born aborigines graze goats on the ruins of a civilization that was able to conquer the oceans? The point in the history of ChSZ has not yet been set.
Mosaic at the checkpoint ChSZ
