Russian flotilla passes the
Plagued with breakdowns, faulty latrines, a fatal fire and an oil spill – the Soviet-era ship with its own rescue tug
THE ageing Russian aircraft carrier that yesterday sailed through the Channel escorted by the Navy has been plagued by years of technical problems and is accompanied everywhere by a tug in case she breaks down.
The plumbing is so bad on the 55,000-ton Admiral Kuznetsov that many of the lavatories cannot be used, while she has had repeated power problems and suffered a string of accidents, naval experts said.
The Soviet-era warship is leading a flotilla of eight naval vessels to the eastern Mediterranean, where its aircraft are expected to join a renewed assault on the rebel-held city of Aleppo.
Kuznetsov sailed through the Dover Strait billowing clouds of black smoke “marked every step of the way” by the Navy’s HMS Duncan, Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said. Nato officials have said the Russian deployment is the largest of its kind since the Cold War and designed to demonstrate Moscow’s military might as well as to blitz the rebel-held city in Syria.
But as Kuznetsov sailed through the Channel, she was mocked by maritime enthusiasts for her notoriously poor state. One Navy source said: “You only have to look at the smoke she’s belching out to see not all is well.”
Peter Roberts, a naval expert at the Royal United Services Institute, said: “In naval folklore, there’s something called an unlucky ship and Kuznetsov is undoubtedly an unlucky ship.
“Kuznetsov is one of those that has things going wrong through design and just through bad luck.”
Work began on the Kuznetsov in 1982 and she was commissioned in 1990. Since then she has been plagued by technical problems, he said, and is accompanied by an ocean-going tug whenever it deploys. Flaws in the water system mean pipes freeze in winter, so water is turned off to most cabins and half the latrines do not work.
Mr Roberts, a former Navy officer, said: “There’s nothing more depressing for a naval captain when he leaves home waters than to be escorted by a tug because even your commander-inchief thinks you are going to break down.” One sailor was killed when a fire started on board the ship during a visit to Turkey in 2009. The same year, the ship spilt hundreds of tons of oil into the Irish Sea during refuelling.
But Mr Roberts said despite the ship’s troubles, she could not be written off. “She’s a big, fast and impressive ship with capable jets and she’s going to war in Syria.” He said the Navy still does not have any aircraft carriers. “It’s easy to be disparaging, but she still represents an impressive capability.”
Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador, yesterday said his country has had to cut the size of its London embassy after Britain delayed visas for months for dozens of its staff, including diplomats. “We are trying to understand whether Britain wants to have an adequate Russian diplomatic presence in London,” he said. The Foreign Office declined immediate comment.