On January 21, 2020, the procedure of raising the flag of the auxiliary fleet of the Russian Navy on a new support ship - the medium sea tanker Akademik Pashin was held in a solemn atmosphere. From that day on, the project 23130 tanker is officially part of the Northern Fleet. Vice-Admiral Alexander Moiseev, who holds the post of Commander of the Russian Northern Fleet, took part in the solemn ceremony of raising the flag. According to the admiral, the fleet, represented by the project 23130 medium tanker, received a universal logistics support vessel. This ship will significantly expand the possibilities of using the surface forces of the Northern Fleet in the World Ocean far from permanent bases.
Medium sea tanker "Akademik Pashin"
The medium marine supply tanker Akademik Pashin was built at the shipyard in Shlisselburg (Leningrad Region) at the facilities of the Nevsky Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Plant (NSSZ). The project of the supply ship was created by the specialists of ZAO Spetsudoproekt from St. Petersburg. The main field of activity of the company is military shipbuilding and shipbuilding. The new auxiliary fleet ship was originally designed and built under a government contract in the interests of the RF Ministry of Defense.
The medium sea tanker, named Akademik Pashin, became the first ship of Project 23130. It is already known that five more serial ships of the same project will later be built for the Russian Navy. Sergei Epifanov, a high-ranking official from the transport support department of the Russian Ministry of Defense, has previously spoken about the plans of the military to build a series of such tankers. According to him, the decision to build five more sea tankers has already been made. According to Epifanov, in 2024 another ship, built according to Project 23130, will be handed over to the Russian Northern Fleet. According to experts, this tanker currently has no analogues in Russia.
The first ship built according to Project 23130 was named "Akademik Pashin" in honor of the famous Russian shipbuilding engineer Valentin Mikhailovich Pashin. Valentin Pashin - Hero of the Russian Federation, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. For more than two decades he headed the Central Scientific Research Institute named after Academician A. N. Krylov. Valentin Pashin is the author of over 150 scientific publications on ship design, as well as a huge number of inventions. After the death of the designer in 2013, a square in St. Petersburg was named after him, and later a medium sea tanker of the auxiliary fleet was named after him.
The hard way to the navy
On January 21, 2020, in fact, the story of another Russian naval long-term construction ended. The ship, like the ships of many other projects, suffered from the sanctions imposed on Russia. Initially, the main power plant of the medium sea tanker was to include diesel engines from the Finnish industrial company Wartsila. A significant part of the auxiliary equipment on the ship also had to be imported. After 2014, such deliveries turned out to be impossible, the result is a significant delay in contractual terms. The ship was built three years longer.
For the first time, the plans to build a series of tankers based on the project 23130 developed by specialists from St. Petersburg CJSC Spetsudoproekt became known in early 2013. The contract for the construction of a project 23130 medium sea tanker was signed on November 1, 2013, the contract value in 2014 prices amounted to 2.978 billion rubles. The construction of the first ship at the Nevsky Shipyard began in February 2014 with the purchase and cutting of metal, the laying of the ship took place in April of the same year.
According to the initial plans, the launching of the vessel was supposed to take place in July 2015, and the completion of all the necessary factory running gear, as well as state tests, was scheduled for October 2016, with the subsequent transfer of the ship to the customer on November 25, 2016. However, in fact, the construction of the ship took place with an almost three-year delay from the original terms stipulated in the contract. The launching of the tanker took place on May 26, 2016, the factory sea trials, which were carried out in the water area of Lake Ladoga, began in May 2018, and the ship arrived in Murmansk only on July 22, 2019 for the completion of the final stage of state tests.
On January 21, 2020, an end was put in the history of the construction of the ship. The ship was finally handed over to the customer and included in the Russian fleet. One can only hope that the construction of subsequent ships of the series will not be accompanied by such a delay in terms. All the prerequisites for the next five project 23130 tankers to be built on time are currently in place.
Technical characteristics of tankers of project 23130
The new ship of the auxiliary fleet is a medium single-deck sea tanker with a bulbous bow and transom stern ends, with tank and poop superstructures. It is worth noting that the bow bulb (from the French word bulbe, onion) is an important part of the vessel, located below the waterline and having a convex ellipsoid shape. Bulb is an important part of large ships, it changes the direction of water flow throughout the hull, reducing drag, which in turn directly affects the increase in cruising range, fuel economy and an increase in speed. By current estimates, the bow bulb provides a fuel economy benefit of about 12-15 percent compared to vessels without it. In turn, the transom stern is typical for all tankers, this type of stern assumes a flat cut in the underwater part, straight outlines in plan and vertical plane.
In the area of cargo tanks, a double steel hull is implemented. The cargo hold on tankers of project 23130 is located in the middle part of the ship, the living superstructure and the engine room are in the aft part. The heart of the ship is a single-shaft diesel power plant that develops a maximum power of up to 9,500 kW (approximately 12,900 hp). To improve maneuverability, the ship has a bow thruster. The power of the main power plant is sufficient to accelerate a ship with a total displacement of about 12,000 tons to a speed of 16 knots.
The deadweight of the ship is approximately 9000 tons with a draft at the cargo waterline. The length of the tanker reaches 130 meters, the width of the ship is up to 21.5 meters, the largest draft is about 7 meters. The sailing autonomy of the Project 23130 medium sea tanker in terms of provisions and drinking water is approximately 60 days. The maximum cruising range is 8000 nautical miles. Accommodation and service premises for the crew of the tanker, as well as passengers are located in the aft living room, the total number of seats on board the ship is 36 (24 people - permanent crew + up to 12 seconded guests).
Opportunities for tankers of project 23130
According to the official website of the manufacturer, the Project 23130 medium sea tanker has an unlimited navigation area. The independent navigation of the ship in the regions of the non-Arctic seas is not limited by anything. The ship itself corresponds to the category of ice enhancement "Arc 4". This ice class guarantees a medium seagoing tanker the ability to independently navigate in thin one-year-old Arctic ice with a thickness of up to 0.8 meters in summer-autumn and up to 0.6 meters in winter-spring navigation. The tanker also has access to navigation in the channel behind the icebreaker in the one-year Arctic ice up to 1 meter thick during summer-autumn navigation and up to 0.7 meters during winter-spring navigation. Thus, during the summer-autumn navigation, the ship can independently navigate in the Barents Sea.
The main purpose of the Project 23130 medium sea tanker is to receive, store, transport and transfer various liquid cargoes for the fleet, primarily: naval fuel oil, diesel fuel, engine oil, aviation kerosene, and fresh water. It is also possible to transport dry cargo, including various technical and skipper property, food supplies. In order to ensure safety and for containment in the event of accidents of oil and oil products spills, there is an emergency boom on board the ship, the total length of which ranges from 200 to 400 meters.
The new Russian tanker received all the necessary equipment and devices for transferring both liquid and dry cargo to ships and vessels at sea. In this case, the transfer process is possible by wake and traverse methods right on the go. In one voyage, an average sea tanker of Project 23130 can take up to 3 thousand tons of fuel oil, 2, 5 thousand tons of diesel fuel, 500 tons of aviation kerosene, 150 tons of lubricating oil, up to 1000 tons of fresh water, as well as 100 tons of food and various equipment and spare parts. …
During the successfully conducted state tests, the new tanker of the Northern Fleet confirmed its improved tactical and technical characteristics, as well as expanded capabilities for transferring liquid and dry cargo to the combat surface ships of the Russian fleet directly at sea. According to Vice Admiral Alexander Moisev, during the tests, the tanker for the first time refueled three warships at once. The tests of the tanker were carried out in 2019 in the Barents Sea and were recognized as completely successful.
