Oceangoing Rescue Ship Launched in St. Petersburg

30.10.2012 Launching ceremony of Project 21300 rescue ship Igor Belousov took place at JSC Admiralteyskie Verfi shipyard (St. Petersburg) on Oct 30.

The ceremony was attended by Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief ADM Viktor Chirkov, Director General of JSC Admiralteyskie Verfi Alexander Buzakov, and President of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation Andrei Diachkov.

Works on the new-generation oceangoing rescue ship were launched early in 2003 at the Almaz Design Bureau; Russian defense ministry approved the technical design late in 2004.

The motivation for development of a new up-to-date rescue ship with deep-sea equipment was an accident happened to nuclear submarine Kursk in Aug 2000, when critical state of Russian Navy's emergency service came to light.

Admiralteyskie Verfi won the defense ministry's tender for construction a Project 21300 ship. Igor Belousov was laid down at the shipyard on Dec 24, 2005.

Works on the ship were going on with considerable breaks due to non-systematic financing and delays in designing of the ship's basic rescue asset, i.e. deep-sea diving system GVK-450. New contract for completion of the Delfin-class rescue ship Igor Belousov was signed by defense ministry and Admiralteyskie Verfi shipyard in Nov 2011 providing the ship's delivery in 2014.

Main purpose of the rescue ship is lifting of crews fr om distressed submarines either lying on seabed or drifting on surface; supply of surface ships and submarines with high-pressure air, electric power, and life saving equipment. Another task is searching and examination of distressed objects, possibly within international maritime rescue groups.

General characteristics:

Length (on designed waterline) – 97.8 meters
Beam (on designed waterline) – 17.2 meters
Amidships depth – 10.6 meters
Displacement – 5,037 tons
Seaworthiness:
- idle navigation – unlim ited
- lowering/lifting of deep-sea rescue vehicle – force 3-4
- lowering/lifting of diving bell – force 5
Full speed – 15 knots
Cruising range at total fuel capacity – 3,500 nautical miles
Crew – 96 men
Accommodation capacity – 120 persons (including 60 in decompression chambers)