History, fate and prospects of the Sevastopol Marine Plant
For the first time since the 90s, the Sevastopol Marine Plant will repair military ships and build civilian ships - this is what its specialists are best able to do and what it was actually built for. How the plant withstood the Crimean, Civil, and Great Patriotic War, but could not withstand the privatization and redistribution of assets in Ukraine, and who will restore it now, the correspondent of the "Russian Planet" found out.
The times of the conquest of Crimea
- The Sevastopol Marine Plant originates from the Sevastopol Admiralty, - says the director of the museum of the plant Irina Shestakova to the "Russian Planet" correspondent. - It appeared simultaneously with the city and the Black Sea Fleet. After the arrival of the first squadron on the western coast of the South Bay, the first buildings of the city and the Admiralty were laid: a chapel in the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker, a house for the commander, a pier and a smithy for repairing the ships that arrived. The date of foundation of these four buildings, June 14, 1783, became the date of foundation of the city and the Sevastopol Admiralty, the predecessor of the Sevastopol Marine Plant.
Initially, the plant was born as a ship repair enterprise, but already 12 years after its foundation, the first two schooners numbered 1 and 2 were built. Before the Crimean War, the plant built more than 50 sailing ships. They explored the Black Sea, carried out a patrol service, and took part in sea battles.
The brig "Mercury" became the most legendary ship. It was built in 1820, and in 1829, during the Russo-Turkish War, it won a victory in an unequal battle with two Turkish battleships, ten times superior to the brig in terms of crew and artillery weapons. The monument on Matrossky Boulevard to the commander, Lieutenant-Commander Kazarsky, in honor of the feat of the brig's team with the inscription "For posterity as an example" is the first monument erected in Sevastopol.
Another legendary ship - the corvette "Olivutsa" - at one time made a round-the-world voyage, proving to the whole world that high-quality ships are being built in Sevastopol.
- During the Crimean War, Russian commanders gave the order to sink the ships so that the enemy fleet could not enter the bays. Many people then were against such a decision. The sailors were eager to fight, but the order was still carried out. After the end of the Crimean War, Russia signed the Paris Treaty, under the terms of which it was deprived of the right to have a navy in the Black Sea. The plant was leased to the joint-stock company "Russian Society of Shipping and Trade" (ROPIT) and began to work for civilian purposes, adds Shestakova.
During one of the Russo-Turkish wars, merchant ships were re-equipped and armed. They fought battles with large Turkish ships and won victories. After Russia's victory over Turkey in 1871, the Treaty of Paris was annulled, the sanctions were lifted, and Russia resumed building warships on the Black Sea.
- Squadron battleships were built, the first destroyers Chesma and Sinop, for repairing ships - new docks, which in their technical and operational characteristics surpassed similar structures in other countries, - says the director of the museum.
In those years, the famous armored cruiser "Ochakov" was built with powerful new mechanisms, boilers and weapons, and the battleship "Potemkin" was completed, on which the first uprising in the Black Sea Fleet under the leadership of Lieutenant Schmidt took place in June 1905.
During the Civil War, the main fleet of the plant was taken abroad, and ships that were not capable of long-distance transitions were blown up. After the Civil War, they began to be restored.
In the first five-year period, the plant resumed the production of civilian ships. The timber carrier "Mikhail Frunze" was built, as well as passenger ships, tugs, schooners. By the 1940s, great attention was again paid to the repair of warships.
The ceremonial descent of the Mikhail Frunze timber carrier. Photo: secrethistory.su
- Freight steamer "Kharkov" transported peas, - says the director of the museum. - In the area of the Bosphorus, he ran aground and punched the hull. The peas got wet from the water, and the ship was torn in half. But our factory workers connected two parts of it and repaired it. This is how the proverb appeared that this is the longest steamer in the world: the bow is in Sevastopol, and the stern is in Constantinople.
"The ship was repaired by the light of illuminating bombs"
During the Great Patriotic War, the Germans mined the Sevastopol bays with electromagnetic mines. To solve this problem, a team of scientists came to the city under the leadership of Academician Igor Kurchatov. Together with the factory workers, they created a device for demagnetizing the hulls of ships, thanks to which ships could leave the bay and participate in battles.
- At our plant was equipped with a floating anti-aircraft battery, which is popularly called "Don't touch me." She knocked out over 20 enemy planes, continues Shestakova. - We also built three armored trains: "Sevastopolets" and "Ordzhonikidze" were directed to the north, and "Zheleznyakov" fired at enemy positions in the Mekenziev mountains. Now he can be seen at the bus station.
The plant itself was partially evacuated during the war. The first wave - to the Caucasus, Tuapse, later to the cities of Poti and Batumi. Part of the production that remained in Sevastopol was placed in underground adits.
“I came to the plant right after school,” says labor veteran Vladimir Rimmer, who was evacuated to Poti during the war. - When the war began, I was only 15 years old. My mother and baby were evacuated north, while my brother and I were sent to a secret base located on the Hopi River. From the age of 15 I was in a combat situation. He carried the border guard for the protection of the water area from Poti to Turkey. From protective uniforms, we had a helmet and a vest with a metal on the belly. At the same time, we had to run and maneuver quickly. The bomb will fall there, then here. There was a constant danger that German aviation would start bombing us from the air, and enemy submarines that occupied positions in the Poti area could also destroy our ship. We were drowned twice. To survive, we carried out repairs to the ship by the light of illuminating bombs. We miraculously managed to escape, we were pulled out in tow.
In 1954, Vladimir Rimmer was transferred from Poti back to Sevastopol to the Sevmorzavod, where he worked until 2012.
In the 50s, the plant continued to repair ships - not only military, but also civil, whaling - and began to build them anew. In the 60s, 100-ton "Chernomorets" were built here, and in the 70s - 300-ton "Bogatyr". The plant worked not only for the USSR, but also for other countries of the socialist camp - Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, the German Democratic Republic.
Tanker "Kostroma", recently refurbished. Photo: Elina Myatiga, specially for RP
In 1974 the floating cranes Bogatyr and Chernomorets were awarded the State Quality Mark. In 1978, the Vityaz floating crane with a lifting capacity of 1600 tons was built. It was made according to a special order for the construction of a dam with a complex for the passage of ships - to protect Leningrad from floods. In total, more than 70 different floating cranes were built on it during the operation of the plant.
In addition to industrial products, in Soviet times, the plant also produced consumer goods.
- We produced metal garages, kitchen sets, beds, travel bags, backpacks, tents, souvenir badges, sectional furniture and much more. The production was closed only in the 90s, - says Irina Shestakova.
"One day there was no work"
“My father, husband, me, our children and grandchildren worked at this plant,” Galina Karpova, the former designer of the plant, tells the correspondent of Russkaya Planet. - We are simply devoted to these stones to infinity. This is our refuge, our memory and our pain. We received everything from the plant: education, apartments … The plant is our whole life. Once it had over 12 thousand employees, and this is without taking into account contractors and subcontractors. The designers admired the locksmiths, they had golden hands. We had our own pioneer camp, recreation center, clinic. The plant participated in the construction of the Chaika stadium, and now it sells fruits. We are looking forward to its revival.
- How did the state enterprise become a joint stock company? - I ask the former director of the plant Anatoly Cherevaty, who came to the plant in 1962.
- After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we lost work in one day. Everyone came to work, and it turned out that the plant did not have a single funded order. In Soviet times, the plant was almost 100% provided with government orders. But in Ukraine, no measures were taken to load industrial enterprises of the military-industrial complex. The executive authorities answered questions from enterprises: “The state is building its economy on market principles. The market will answer all your questions. Immerse yourself in a competitive global system and solve your own problems."
In fact, says Cherevatyi, enterprises in the defense industries were left to fend for themselves. At the same time, the legislative field of Ukraine in the field of economic activity imposed large restrictions on their leadership in making commercial and other economic decisions.
In 1995, the plant became a joint stock company with a 100% state-owned shareholding. By the way, the first among the shipyards of Ukraine.
“We have traveled literally half the world, proving to potential customers that there is such a shipyard and that it offers competitive conditions for fulfilling contracts. In order to resume work with Russia, we organized a joint Russian-Ukrainian enterprise "Lazarevskoe Admiralty", in which the Russian partner held a controlling stake. Having received the necessary licenses, the enterprise became a participant in the tenders of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, and thus began to become in the repair of ships of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.
Having received the status of JSC, the enterprise gradually got on its feet. Machine builders mastered new types of products, shipbuilders repaired foreign ships from Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Malta, Cyprus and other states. The plant continued to build floating cranes, including Feodosiyets and Sevmorneftegaz, began to master new vessels: a transport dock platform for landing ships of the Zubr type, a unique fire-fighting vessel Pivdenny for the Yuzhny port, a non-self-propelled floating crane-reloader "Atlas", oil-skimmer-boom-handling boat.
- In 1997, the privatization sale of parts of the state block of shares of the plant began. The management of the plant was not allowed to bid - only participants with special licenses. It's not hard to guess who had access to these licenses. Leonid Kuchma at the peak of his political career was president, and at sunset - the son-in-law of a billionaire. We found out who became the new owner from the official mass media.
In 1998, the controlling stake became owned by the Ukrainian investment fund SigmaBleyzer, and then passed to the citizen of Lebanon Dau Rafik. In 2006, he bought out all the remaining shares, and the Sevmorzavod became private. Rafik decided to repurpose this territory. A little earlier, on the site of the Northern site, he had already built a grain terminal.
- How did it happen that the plant became the property of the current President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko?
- The fact is that the Sevastopol City Council made it clear to Mr. Dau Rafik that it would not be able to agree on a change in the designated purpose of the land plot on which the Sevmorzavod is located, - explains Cherevaty. - Next came the sale of the plant's assets. The northern site became the property of a structure affiliated with Rinat Akhmetov, and the rest was controlled by Konstantin Grigorishin's Energy Standard group and a structure affiliated with the Ukrprominvest concern controlled by Petro Poroshenko. Then Grigorishin and Poroshenko divided the assets of the sea plant, which turned out to be in their joint ownership. The first got the social infrastructure on the southern coast of Crimea, and the second got the production assets on the land plots of Sevastopol.
"We will get a powerful city-forming enterprise in the south of Russia"
In 2013, the Sevastopol Marine Plant celebrated the 230th anniversary of its foundation. On February 28, 2015, it was nationalized in favor of the city and leased to the Severodvinsk shipbuilding and ship-repairing enterprise Zvezdochka.
- Why did Zvezdochka get this plant after nationalization? - I ask the current director of the plant Igor Drey.
- Since the Sevastopol Shipyard since its inception has been focused mainly on military and civil ship repair, primarily servicing the Black Sea Fleet, the closest enterprise in this area, which is part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), can be called the Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center, - explained the director.
Zvezdochka is capable of repairing warships of all types, as well as submarines and civilian ships of significant displacement. Specialists from Severodvinsk have already examined and prepared documents for the restoration of fixed assets. Now they are developing a long-term project, according to which they will again build floating cranes here, repair warships, and complete civil ships manufactured in Inkerman.
- We will get a powerful, as before, city-forming enterprise in the south of Russia with unique opportunities: an ice-free port, well-developed infrastructure, spacious dry docks. The plant's technological capabilities will make it possible to repair ships of the Black Sea Fleet and commercial vessels all year round, - assures Igor Drei.
