In the late 80s, ChSZ was preparing to take another step, another technological and production height - the construction of a heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser with a nuclear power plant.
"Ulyanovsk" on the slipway
By 1988, the Black Sea Shipyard in Nikolaev was one of the largest shipbuilding centers in the Soviet Union and the only enterprise in this industry that had been building aircraft carriers for 26 years. The anti-submarine cruisers Moskva and Leningrad were in service for a long time. The construction and delivery of heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers "Kiev", "Minsk" and "Novorossiysk" to the fleet was carried out.
By the specified period, the Black Sea plant was at the peak of its production capacity - in the water area of the enterprise, work was being carried out on three heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers at once. Preparing for the delivery of the Baku fleet, the completion of the Tbilisi was carried out, and in November 1988 the Riga, the future Varyag, was launched. In parallel, ships and vessels of other military and civilian projects were built on other slipways of the plant.
Conversations, discussions, turning into disputes about the need to build and the presence of aircraft-carrying ships in the USSR Navy, continued for more than a decade. Sketches and projects, sometimes very elaborate and interesting (for example, the project of Kostromitinov in 1944) replaced each other with regular constancy. By the end of the 1960s. the ice in relation to the aircraft carriers was broken. The anti-submarine helicopter carriers "Moscow" and "Leningrad" joined the Soviet fleet. The construction of the ship began according to a new project - "Kiev".
However, before the appearance of aircraft carriers, it was still very far away. The 1970s brought new projects and a new round of controversy. Should efforts be focused on the further development of heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers? Or start building full-fledged aircraft carriers with catapults, aerofinishers and horizontal take-off and landing aircraft?
In the early 1970s, a project appeared for an aircraft carrier with a nuclear power plant - Project 1160. It was a ship with a displacement of almost 80 thousand tons with an air group of 70 aircraft. However, during this period, the appearance of aircraft carriers in the Soviet fleet was prevented by the vicissitudes in the government offices. Instead of Marshal Grechko, who favored the creation of aircraft-carrying ships, Dmitry Fedorovich Ustinov became the head of the Ministry of Defense, who treated such projects with a more restrained attitude. Work on the 1160 project was discontinued. Subsequently, on its basis, the project 1153 code "Eagle" was developed - with a smaller displacement and a smaller air group. However, for a number of reasons, it also remained unfulfilled.
Since the early 1980s. The Chernomorsky Shipyard began building heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers of projects 1143.5 and 1143.6 - by the fall of 1988 order 104 Tbilisi was being prepared for testing, order 105 Riga was launched. The next ship of Project 1143.7 was a further, improved development of its predecessors, and its main difference was the presence of a nuclear power plant. The Soviet fleet, finally, was to receive a ship of this level.
On the slipway - atomic
The development of the project for the next, in this case, a milestone, aircraft-carrying cruiser was carried out by the Nevsky Design Bureau in Leningrad. This institution received a tactical and technical assignment for the design of such a ship in 1984. When working on a promising nuclear-powered aircraft-carrying cruiser, the experience and experience gained during the creation of projects 1160 and 1153 were used.
Scheme "Ulyanovsk"
In 1986, a preliminary design was approved, and the next, 1987, a technical one. The main difference from previous heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers was not only the presence of a nuclear power plant. It was planned to equip the new ship, in addition to the springboard, with two steam catapults. It was assumed that it would have a larger air group of 70 aircraft and helicopters: including not only carrier-based fighters Su-27K and MiG-29K, helicopters Ka-27 and Ka-31, but also a twin-engine aircraft for radar patrol and target designation Yak- 44RLD.
Model of the experimental Yak-44 on the flight deck of the TAKR "Tbilisi" ("Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov"). September 1990
A feature of this aircraft, which has been in development since the late 1970s, was equipped with unique D-27 propfan engines, which allowed the aircraft to take off, according to calculations, not only with the help of a catapult, but also from a springboard. The expansion of the air group led to the appearance of not two, but three aircraft lifts.
The nuclear-powered aircraft-carrying cruiser was supposed to be armed with the Granit strike missile system and a fairly powerful air defense system, which included the Dagger and Kortik complexes. Displacement, unlike its predecessors, was increased and reached 73 thousand tons. A four-shaft power plant with a capacity of 280 thousand kW could provide a full speed of up to 30 knots.
The silhouette of the ship should have slightly differed from the cruisers of Project 1143.6 and 1143.5. - it had a slightly smaller superstructure. In total, project 1143.7 was supposed to build four nuclear-powered aircraft-carrying cruisers.
Ulyanovsk bookmark. ChSZ director Yuri Ivanovich Makarov attaches a mortgage board. From left to right: Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy for armaments Vice-Admiral F. I. Novoselov, District Engineer VP 1301 Captain 1st Rank G. N. Babich "Our aircraft carriers on stocks and on long voyages", Nikolaev, 2003)
The lead ship was laid down on the berth that was freed up after the descent of the "Riga" on November 25, 1988. It was named "Ulyanovsk".
Bronze embedded board "Ulyanovsk" (photo from the book by V. V. Babich "Our aircraft carriers on the stocks and on long voyages", Nikolaev, 2003)
In parallel with the construction of heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers, there was a continuous improvement and modernization of the Black Sea plant itself in connection with new tasks. By the mid-80s. the enterprise already had at its disposal a unique slipway complex, consisting of two 900-ton Finnish cranes. New equipment was supplied to the shops. A new round of technical and production improvement came with the beginning of the construction of nuclear-powered heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers.
In preparation for the construction of order 107, which was "Ulyanovsk", the State Specialized Design Institute "Soyuzverf" created a project to expand the plant. It was planned to locate an impressive block of assembly and outfitting shops with an area of 50 thousand sq. meters. New production facilities were to be concentrated there for the completion of nuclear-powered heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers. Including there it was supposed to place the production of atomic steam generating plants. For the transportation of nuclear reactors from the location of the future assembly and outfitting shops to the gantry cranes of the slipway, it was planned to build a special pontoon.
Preparatory work for the construction of order 107, the future "Ulyanovsk", began in January 1988. After the laying of the ship on November 25 of the same year, the construction of the cruiser hull continued at a fairly rapid pace. At the same time, the large-block assembly method already worked out on previous orders was widely used. The hull itself was to be formed from 27 blocks saturated with equipment, each weighing 1380 tons. The cost of "Ulyanovsk" when it was laid was estimated at 800 million rubles, and the total cost, including the costs of design, armament and equipment, was to reach about 2 billion rubles. The ship was planned to be commissioned in 1995.
Since the pace of construction of the building was quite high, they began to significantly outstrip the work on reclaiming areas for the future block of assembly and outfitting shops. The construction of the buildings was supposed to start only in 1991, and 4 atomic steam generating units had to be assembled and loaded into the building before that time.
"Ulyanovsk" on the slipway
The plant technologists proposed to build a special pontoon as a place for the technological assembly of the installations, on which to mount a metal building with equipment and cranes, in which assembly work should be carried out. The finished nuclear steam generating plants were rolled out on special trailers from the gates of this new workshop directly under the gantry cranes. The idea was supported by the director of the plant Yuri Ivanovich Makarov. He also made significant improvements to it. Returning from a working trip to Bulgaria, Makarov proposed to make the roof of the assembly workshop sliding. At the same time, the finished reactor was removed by a gantry crane and immediately fed to the slipway. This idea came to the director after visiting a local planetarium during a Bulgarian trip.
The assembly shop of the reactors was ready by the end of 1989. It was installed under slipway number 0, where Ulyanovsk was being built, on a light pile foundation, and soon the assembly of shipborne nuclear reactors began. All the necessary components for the assembly of these units: housings, steam generators, pumps, filters - arrived at the plant in 1990-1991. Four reactors were structurally combined into two units weighing 1400 tons each for the bow and stern engine groups. One of the blocks was successfully welded, the second was prepared for assembly.
The hull of "Ulyanovsk" itself on the slipway reached 27 thousand tons by the end of construction - the aft section of the cruiser was brought up to the level of the upper deck. The overall readiness of the hull was about 70% - some of the mechanisms and equipment had already been assembled and loaded. The plant was completely ready for the installation of nuclear reactors at Ulyanovsk. Preparations began for the construction of order 108, which should have been the next nuclear-powered aircraft-carrying cruiser.
However, very unfavorable external circumstances intervened in the fate of the ship. After the August events of 1991, the mighty power, more than 600 factories and enterprises of which were working on the creation of a nuclear-powered heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser, began to collapse. The Black Sea Shipyard, located in Nikolaev, found itself on the territory of Ukraine, which had declared independence. The future president Leonid Kravchuk, who visited the plant within the framework of the election program, called the enterprise "The Pearl of Ukraine". When the factory workers asked whether the construction of aircraft carriers would continue, Leonid Makarovich, without batting an eye, replied that, of course, it would. However, given the talent of Mr. Kravchuk to confidently and streamline answer the most specific questions, the future president could just as well have promised the colonization of the Moon by Ukraine along with the acquisition of Polubotka's gold.
However, the promises of politicians can be lighter than dried autumn leaves. Leaves of the fall of 1991, the last fall of the USSR. In October, the Navy stopped funding the ships under construction at the plant. These included the Varyag heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser afloat and the Ulyanovsk on the stocks. For some time, the plant was still carrying out scheduled work on them, while at the beginning of 1992, due to lack of funds and opportunities, they had to be stopped.
Scrap metal
A huge plant with a large team had to somehow survive. During this period, the management of the company began negotiations with the Norwegian brokerage company Libek & Partners to sign a contract for the construction of 45,000 dwt tankers for a large shipowner. To implement this plan, it was supposed to build these ships simultaneously on two slipways - number 0 and number 1.
But what to do with the Ulyanovsk building? The plant has repeatedly appealed to the government and Russian President Boris Yeltsin, to the command of the fleet. There was no clear answer - the unfinished nuclear-powered heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser turned out to be of no use to anyone. Politicians had nothing to do with the heritage of a great country that had sunk into oblivion, which stood on the slipway. Part of the plant's management offered to complete the construction of Ulyanovsk in spite of everything and launch it until better times. However, this idea was rejected.
And then an unexpected guest arrived at the Black Sea Plant. It was a certain US citizen with a characteristic American surname - Vitaly Kozlyar, vice president of J. R. Global Enterprises Inc, registered in New York. After inspecting the plant and the unfinished Ulyanovsk, he offered to buy it for scrap at a very optimistic price of 550 dollars per ton. Since this was a very serious amount of money, the management of the plant and together with it the government of Ukraine took the bait for joy.
On February 4, 1992, by a decree of the Ukrainian government, the Ulyanovsk nuclear-powered heavy aircraft cruiser was doomed to be scrapped. Without waiting for the full execution of the contract and the receipt of the first payments, the atomic giant began to cut. At that time, the head of the department of foreign economic relations of the plant, Valery Babich (later the author of the book "Our Aircraft Carriers"), having studied Western catalogs and brochures, found out that the price of scrap on the international market was then no more than $ 90-100 per ton. Realizing that something was wrong, Babich reported his "discovery" to the management of the plant, but being sure of the high cost of nickel-containing armor steel and high-strength hull steel, they did not pay attention to this warning.
Yuri Ivanovich Makarov, who was categorically against cutting Ulyanovsk, was undergoing treatment after a stroke at that time. The shipbuilder's heart could not stand the death of the Soviet Union, the collapse of production and the end of the era of aircraft-carrying cruisers at the Black Sea plant. Optimists assumed that the workers would refuse to cut the Ulyanovsk - the factory still remembered how the shipbuilders were outraged by the decision to dispose of the project 68-bis cruiser Admiral Kornilov in 1959, when the ship's readiness reached 70%. They voluntarily refused to let him go under the knife. The management had to appoint executors forcibly, threatening with disciplinary measures.
However, in the 1990s, the times were not the same. According to Valery Babich's recollections, "Ulyanovsk" was cut with no less enthusiasm than it was built. In March 1992, a representative of the scrap buyer, Mr. Joseph Reznik, arrived at the plant. By this time, the hull of the cruiser had already been cut by 40%. At the beginning of the negotiations, Mr. Reznik, an emigrant from the USSR, expressed his extreme bewilderment at the price of 550 dollars per ton. With deep sympathy, he informed the stupefied leadership of the ChSZ that he could pay no more than $ 120 per ton. And where Mr. Vitaly Kozlyar got such a price, he absolutely does not know.
Negotiations soon ended due to a complete mutual misunderstanding. The cutting of the ship continued as it was necessary to free the slipway. "Ulyanovsk" was cut in 10 months - by November 1992, the first Soviet nuclear-powered heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser, which had never taken place, had ceased to exist. However, the rush brought nothing to the plant - in 1993 the contracts for the construction of tankers and the agreement on the sale of the cruiser for scrap were canceled. All the cut metal lay in heaps on the huge area of the plant.
In vain the plant's management tried to sell the remains of "Ulyanovsk" to numerous buyers at first. Nobody remembered the peppy price of 550 dollars per ton any more. Much more modest figures began to appear in the negotiations: $ 300, $ 200, and finally $ 150. Foreigners were not willing to pay much for ship steel, constantly finding reasons to bring down the price.
Packages with cut structures of "Ulyanovsk" on a coastal pier near ChSZ (photo from the book by V. V. Babich "Our aircraft carriers on the stocks and on long voyages", Nikolaev, 2003)
For many years, bags with Ulyanovsk structures were piled up at the plant, overgrown with grass and confirming the old Latin expression: "Woe to the vanquished!" Then they gradually began to disappear - economic degradation completely engulfed the former giant of the USSR shipbuilding industry, and everything that could be sold was already sold: equipment, machine tools, the first and last nuclear-powered heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser of the Soviet fleet "Ulyanovsk".
