Building of Russian aircraft carrier in Ukraine is being lobbied

30.08.2010 Some authorities are about to lobby construction of the Russian aircraft carrier's hull at Chernomorsky Shipyard, Ukraine. That information leaked out from copy of an official document received by the Central Navy Portal from unaccredited source.

Interested persons carry out expert appraisals of possibilities to build large aircraft carrier (with displacement up to 100,000 tons) engaging productive capacities of Chernomorsky Shipyard (Nikolayev, Ukraine). The concept is to place an order for construction of a carrier hull equipped up to the top deck. The hull is supposed to be transferred to one of Russian shipyards for further assembling of bulkhead and final completion. Arguments for such decision are:

- proximity of Ukrainian large metallurgical works producing wide rolled metal sheets, which will economize on rolled metal products and, therefore, on all hull works in general;
- carrier-building experience of the yard totally re-equipped in 1989-1992 for construction of new-generation aircraft-carrying cruisers with displacement up to 96,000 tons;
- current impossibility to build large-size ships at Russian shipyards.

According to estimated data, the first hull could be finished in two years, and then it would be possible to deliver one hull each 9-12 months.

As for the source, complete cycle of aircraft carrier construction is impossible at Chernomorsky Shipyard due to numerous reasons, including underload of Russian yards.

According to the information available to the Central Navy Portal, opinion of potential carrier-building at Chernomorsky Shipyard are too optimistic. By now, the yard has been in deep crisis and has found a way out of it only in recent months. Many valuable specialists and technologies have been lost through years of idleness (only 2,000 shipwrights are presently employed comparing to 40,000 worked before the breakup of the USSR). The shipyard's owner issue is also still open; on May 28, 2010 Kiev court invalidated privatization of 90.25% shares. Nonetheless, it is the only shipyard in the former USSR technologically adapted to construct ships with displacement up to 100,000 tons.