LJ user drugoi writes: The 44th Red Banner Brigade of Anti-Submarine Ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet is located in the very center of Vladivostok, next to the seaport, opposite the building of the fleet headquarters. Near the wall there are four large Project 1155 anti-submarine ships in a row. From here these ships are sent on combat duty to the Gulf of Aden, where they protect merchant ships from pirates.
To the right of the four BODs is the Irtysh floating hospital, and to the left is the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, the Varyag guards missile cruiser.
The missile cruiser of project 1164.1 "Chervona Ukraine" was laid down at the 61 Communards plant in Nikolaev on July 31, 1979 (serial number 2010), on November 5, 1982, enlisted in the lists of ships of the USSR Navy, launched on August 28, 1983, entered into built on December 25, 1989, and on February 28, 1990 included in the Pacific Fleet. After the collapse of the USSR, the cruiser went to Russia and in 1996, at the initiative of the ship's crew, it was named Varyag - in honor of the famous armored cruiser of the 1st Pacific Squadron of the Russian Navy, a participant in the battle at Chemulpo in 1904.
The cruiser's main weapon is the P-1000 Vulcan homing cruise missiles. The launchers of SM-248 missiles are located on the sides of the ship, they look very impressive and by them it is easy to distinguish the Varyag from other ships. Project 1164 cruisers are also called "aircraft carrier killers" - in fact, for this they were created.
1. The scheme of the missiles is impressive - after a salvo from one side, all eight missiles, after opening their wings, form a single group, a "wolf pack" with the leader - a separately flying missile that directs the entire group to the target, corrects the course for other missiles, dropping information to them. When approaching the target, the leading missile selects the largest object (aircraft carrier), directs one of the missiles at it from the so-called. "Special ammunition" and divides the remaining objects between the rest of the "pack" missiles. All missiles include homing heads and strike targets. The mass of one rocket is almost five tons, the flight speed is about 2900 km / h. The enemy ship has no chances to stay afloat after being hit by such a missile. If they manage to shoot down the lead rocket, another one, exactly the same, takes its place. The attack takes place without the participation of the ship's crew according to the "fire - forget" system. Interestingly, all of this is technology from the early 70s.
2. Acquaintance with "Varyag" begins with prosaic sacks with cabbage and carrots. Standing next to the BOD "Admiral Panteleev" is going on a trip to the coast of Africa and loads a stock of food.
3. On sea voyages leave for a long time and stock up on everything you need seriously. This is only a small part of the drinking water that is loaded into the holds of a warship.
4. The officer accompanying me advised not to use a mobile phone: "If you have a smartphone, it is better to turn it off, otherwise it may burn out." I didn’t believe it, but I turned it off just in case. The ship has a full set of radar weapons of the MP-152 "Ring" complex for detecting working radio and radar stations, homing heads of enemy missiles, their direction finding and suppression. Perhaps there was a certain reason in the officer's words.
5. On the Varyag's tank there is an AK-130 - a ship's automatic cannon. Shoots a high-explosive fragmentation projectile at a speed of 90 rounds per minute and a range of up to 23 kilometers. Fully automatic - acts independently until the ammunition runs out. They say it has no analogues in the world. What, what, but what shoots we knew how to do. There were problems with consumer goods, but the guns were always excellent. AK-130 is no exception. In the initial sketches of the ship, there were 12 launchers (six per side) and instead of one twin cannon there were two single-barreled A-100s. In 1972, Admiral Gorshkov ordered the addition of four more launchers to carry out two full eight-rocket salvoes, and replace two AK-100s with one double-barreled AK-130. The ship became much heavier, the speed and ammunition of artillery pieces decreased (720 shots against 2000).
6. Despite the modern means of communication, the signal flags system remains the main communication for the ships in the fleet. The Russian Navy uses a set of signals from the USSR fleet. 32 signal flags correspond to the letters of the Russian alphabet: Lead - "The course leads to danger", Live - "Give an average move", Y - "Found a mine", etc. This picture shows the place of the signalman on the cruiser. In a metal box, there are signal flags, which, if necessary, are raised on vertical halyards on the yard. To the left of the box there are black "running balls", which indicate the speed of the ship in the sea. The lower the "ball" is, the higher the speed. By the way, "Varyag" can go at a speed of 32 knots. When he walks at that speed, the breaker astern is ten meters high.
7. "What is that red little blue there?" On the wall there are silhouettes of ships and aircraft of Russia and NATO countries. A hint for the signalman who is watching what is happening around the ship.
8. This is the ship's wheelhouse. From here it is operated in day-to-day conditions. The deckhouse is connected to the combat information center BIUS "Lesorub-1164" by the commander's elevator.
9. Place of the commander of the cruiser "Varyag", Guard Captain 1st Rank Eduard Moskalenko.
10. Everything here really reminds of the 70s. Such a reliable iron. "Warm tube sound." I tried my best not to photograph anything secret, but go and figure out where that is.
11. "Tovs" - I love these naval words. Guys, biteng, tweendeck, south-west, coaming, sternpost, binnacle - all this smells like a salty sea wind and excites inexpressibly.
12. Shifts went to their places of work. The Kavtarangs puzzled: "What would you show this unclassified?" We got together on some screen # 22. Sailor Renat from Bashkiria sat down in the operator's seat and began to press buttons, turn on monitors - to depict activities at a combat post. It looked quite authentic.
13. The same Renat, who caught the attention of the officers at the wrong time, revived the premises of the ship's library, pretending to sort out the mail that had come to the ship. The library is good. Small, but everything is there. In general, the Varyag is a rather comfortable ship. The mess rooms are decorated with wood, paintings hang, carpets on the floor. There is a swimming pool with a waterfall, healing showers, a large steam room, a sauna. There are air conditioners in the living cabins, and there are four air refrigeration units on the ship.
14. Cruiser cruise means long passages along endless corridors and sudden descents and ascents along vertical ladders. In the fourth compartment, we descend lower and lower, to where the sailors' quarters are. Weapons, of course, are interesting, but I really wanted to see how sailors live on one of the most powerful cruisers in the world.
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16. On the screen of the competition for the best cockpit, you can see, for example, that cockpit # 14, who scored a bolt in the competition in December, apparently received a big star from the commanders and then became the leading one, without dropping below the score of "four".
17. This is how the night shift rests in the now exemplary cockpit №14. I opened the door for a couple of seconds and took some pictures of the sleeping sailors.
18. In the next cabin a sailor wrote something important in a magazine. Next to him is a cage with a parrot screwed to the table. The parrot was there and rested.
19. Holy of Holies missile cruiser - galley. The ceilings here are low and the sailor with a rag in his hand, putting things in order, walked with his head bent, which gave his figure a sad look. Nearby, two other sailors began to open cans with a simple knife, for which they immediately received a scolding from the officers accompanying me. Everything should be perfect for someone else's gaze, I understand.
20. Ship kote - an indispensable accessory of any warship for fighting rodents. Or, as they say here, "proteins". Seals and vital cables in a metal sheath - these are the conditions for the coexistence of humans and rodents. There are several cats on the ship, they are brought in one per warhead. The cats of the cruiser "Varyag" are popular with guests in different countries where the ship calls. It happens that they are given - one of the ship's cats now lives in the Orthodox Church in Singapore. Mother, they say, was happy with such a gift. Another was donated to a local admiral in Indonesia.
21. I wanted to take one lifebuoy as a keepsake. The circle was not given, it was official, but they presented something else.
22. We had lunch with the officers, talked, then moved to the working cabin, there we talked some more. I didn't want to leave, but time was running out - they and me. As he left, he took a few more pictures on the deck of the Varyag and on the shore.
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24. It seemed to me that everything is in order on the cruiser. He goes to sea, conducts training sessions. "Varyag" is a welcome guest in foreign ports, there are queues for it from those wishing to make an excursion around the ship. As the officers said: "There is a French" Mistral "nearby - there is no one there, but there is a queue for the entire pier to us, thirty thousand people each come in a few days of the visit." You can see how the sailors are proud of their "Varyag", of their service. They called me on a hike - I have to think, I am not friends with the pitching, although I really want to, of course. Because it is real.
