The year 2019 ended, this time even according to the old style, and the new, 2020, began. It makes sense to knock out some results in military shipbuilding.
In the construction of surface ships in the near sea zone, everything is the same. Instead of multipurpose ships, at least light ones, MRCs continue to be laid, the purpose of the existence of which as specialized missile ships after the termination of the INF Treaty has lost all clarity. There is no end in sight to the problems with the new minesweepers, and the old ones are not being modernized and their modernization is not planned.
The construction of "suitcases without handles" - patrol ships of Project 22160 continues. Various little things continued to be built, but this is hardly the news that made you want to clap your hands.
Against this gloomy background, however, there were other events related to the construction of submarines and ships of the Far Sea Zone. There are very joyful episodes, and there are those that would become so if certain conditions had come. Which, alas, did not come. But they can still. And there is a very scandalous mystery, the nature of which still remains unclear, and which is worth telling in more detail.
When 4 = 5, or Where is the fifth warship?
February 20, 2019, speaking with the annual message to the Federal Assembly, Russian President V. Putin said:
"… in the near future, five surface ships of the far sea zone will be laid down, sixteen more ships of this class will be commissioned into the Navy by 2027".
Later, on April 9, 2019, Defense Minister S. K. Shoigu announcedthat on the same day at the "Severnaya Verf" corvette blocks of the corvette 20386 will dock, which suddenly and without mentioning the previous history of this ship (and it was formally laid down in October 2016 as "Daring") began to be called by the name "Mercury" … "Mercury" looked so like a ship out of nowhere that even people immersed in the topic began to figure out what it was and where it came from. Only closer to the point it became clear that this was the same "Impudent".
Soon the events that we all remember followed: on April 23, the laying took place … of four warships, two landing ships according to a very much modified project 11711 and two frigates of project 22350 with an enhanced composition of rocket weapons, namely with three 3C-14 launchers instead of two, and, accordingly, with 24 units of strike missile weapons (KR and anti-ship missiles of the "Caliber" family, anti-ship missiles "Onyx", PLUR-91R, in the future - anti-ship missiles "Zircon") instead of 16.
The fifth ship was not laid down, but then the year was just beginning, there was a lot of time, and no one attached any importance to this.
And then the riddles began.
Around the same time as the laying of two frigates and two large landing ships among people close to the High Command and some "near-naval" structures of the Ministry of Defense, there was a rumor that perhaps the fifth ship would be another 20386, which, as you know, "occasionally" can perform combat missions in the far sea zone. However, no one gave details, on the other hand, it was not surprising, the Glavkomat more than once announced plans to have three such ships by 2025 (for example, through the mouth of the former Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Vice-Admiral V. I. Bursuk), and in the "Program shipbuilding until 2050”there were (then) ten, as far as can be judged taking into account the secrecy of the document. And plans for the laying of a second such ship were announced back in the fall of 2018, but in fact by that time, two years and one month after the laying, only the cutting of steel began for the head "Daring-Mercury". In general, it was impossible to exclude the bookmark of another 20386.
And in May, at the “profile” forum, on the “profile” forum, one, judging by the reports, a well-informed and “immersed” in this area, anonymous was thrown the following.
This version looked just hellishly naive and was completely ignored by everyone, without exception, as deliberately unrealistic.
However, a little later something happened.
On May 27, 2019, the website of the Simferopol and Crimean Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate appeared here is a message:
On May 26, on Nakhimov Square, within the framework of the "Merkuryevsky Day", with the support of the Department of Public Communications, the Department of Education, the Department of the Governor's Office and the Government of Sevastopol, a ceremonial formation of cadets, cadets, cadets and youth soldiers took place.
During the event, the foundation board of the newest Project-20386 Mercury rocket corvette was consecrated.
The rite of consecration was performed by Archpriest Stefan Slomchinsky, assistant to the dean of the Sevastopol district.
With photos of the event being described, for example, these:
And among them was this.
New name, new bookmark date - the same, April 23rd.
And the order number (serial number of the ship under construction), the project and the purpose are old, from Daring. And this cannot be, but it is. Let's compare.
What's the problem with all this?
The fact that there is no other reasonable explanation, except for the replacement of the ship, for all this. It cannot be that the bookmark date has changed for the order number. And she is different on this board. And the board is "not just like that".
First, the mortgage board is made in accordance with GOST. It can be done in several copies, but only once, during the bookmark. And when the "Daring" was booked, it was made according to all the rules and installed on the ship. The mortgage board is not a souvenir, it is, in a sense, an integral part of the ship (even specimens that are not attached to it). The new mortgage board is made in accordance with GOST and does not differ from the real one in anything.
Secondly, the question is about the date on the “mortgage” board. As some comrades later explained, this is, they say, a symbol of the continuity of the traditions of the old "Mercury" with the new one. But why is the bookmark date on April 23rd? Due to the docking of the hull blocks? But this is not the beginning of construction, the beginning - the laying in 2016, but the beginning of the construction of the hull - cutting of steel, and it began in November 2018. Renaming? But S. K. Shoigu announced the fact of the renaming long before that.
What did the authors of the souvenir want to show with the bookmark date April 23, 2019 and the correct order number?
Maybe, after all, pass off the old ship as a new one?
So it turns out that the only consistent explanation for this big top is the same conspiracy theory about the re-laying of "Daring Mercury". And the event with the "artists" in the old form looks like a part of the "PR company" not canceled in time by someone's oversight.
Was the fifth deep sea surface ship laid down in 2019?
It depends on what you mean by this. On November 27, 2019, the Project 23350 Nikolai Zubov patrol icebreaker was laid down at the Admiralty Shipyards. This ship, which is quite necessary for the country, has a long range, about 10,000 kilometers of economic progress. And V. V. Putin. Adjusted for three days until December, everything worked out, as the anonymous author claimed.
It seems like now the fleet has something to hide behind, and now, at the expanded collegium of the Ministry of Defense S. K. Shoigu reports:
For the first time in the modern history of Russia, 22 ships of the far sea zone are being built for the Navy at the same time. This year, five ships have been laid down, next year there will be eight more.
But where is the fifth? Four, two frigates and two BDK were laid down! There was no fifth
With all due respect to icebreakers and with a long range of this ship, it cannot be attributed to the DMZ ships, if only because the entire NSR is a near sea zone, and it is intended to work in it. In the DMZ, during the ongoing hostilities, such a ship will not be able to perform tasks - there will not be enough weapons on board, nor speed. He is not a combatant, he is a patrolman.
Obviously, the conspiracy theory has materialized.
Other facts also work in her favor, for example, the former commander-in-chief Korolev was dismissed precisely after April 23, and at the ceremony itself he was demonstratively placed far from the president. True, by that time it was already known that it was decided to get rid of him, but what was the “last straw”? Is it information about such a daring scam?
In addition, the anonymous author who disseminated the version about the false "re-mortgage" of the "Daring Mercury" said that his sister ship, which they wanted to mortgage at Severnaya Verf as order No. 1010, was still not mortgaged due to technical risks. And from past articles about this project (see. “Worse than a crime. Construction of corvettes of project 20386 - error ", "Corvette 20386. Continuation of the scam" and "Is the rework of the 20386 project contemplated?") the list of technical risks is clear (and it is far from complete).
So, for example, there is still no prototype of the 6РП reducer, which should link the operation of electric motors of economic motion and gas turbines of afterburner. Moreover, it is not known exactly when it will be, and this despite the fact that the director of the "Severnaya Verf" Ponomarev promised that in 2021 the ship will be launched. And this cannot be done until the body is formed, and when the body is formed, the power plant is completely assembled in it. And it cannot be assembled without gearboxes.
So there are risks, because of which it is not worth pledging another 20386, they have not gone anywhere.
It is not surprising that after this, rumors spread among those interested that the Daring was not just renamed, but that it was re-laid down according to some changed project, and that it was “counted” as the laying of a new ship.
It is difficult to say what the real background of all these events is, but one way or another, this story looks extremely strange. And not good. After all, whatever it is, and whatever the Defense Ministry is now claiming, the president has promised five ships. And in fact they laid four. I would like to believe that such mysteries of the Navy and the military-industrial complex will not be thrown to the public anymore. Although, knowing the desperate, generated by decades of impunity, the courage of the comrades who influence the domestic military shipbuilding, nothing can be guaranteed.
And if an attempt of forgery really took place, then it is quite possible that this is far from the last such somersault. And not even the last "scam" of President Putin on the part of the Navy and the military-industrial complex, because Putin is finalizing his last term, and after that the whole situation with shipbuilding can simply be "rebooted" by cutting unbuilt ships into metal and forgetting about them - as it was already not once. The money has been spent, thanks to everyone, everyone is free, until new bookmarks.
They will explain to the people that this is how it should be, as previously explained the necessity and correctness of the transition from warships (20385 for example) to non-combat ships (22160 for example), and the people will believe again, and after three years they will forget about everything and will rejoice at new victories. Who, for example, remembers today such a project as 12441? Unfinished and dumped to rot in the water minesweepers? No one.
And "Daring Mercury", if necessary, will be forgotten, and everything will be fine for everyone.
But what was under the fifth ship, it would be better for the Ministry of Defense to clarify, so that at least in the future such inconsistencies would not hurt anyone's eyes. So that at least the ends can then be hidden. Four cannot be equal to five, apart from what it was all about.
