A big fire, which may still be there, has been in the former Soviet Union Kiev class aircraft carrier Minskwhich has been rotting away in a man-made lagoon just from a stretch of the Yangtze River in China for years now. War Zone before dove into the saga of how the flattop came anchored there in the feature you can find here.
The cause of the fire and MinskCurrent status is unknown. Local authorities said the fire broke out at around 16:00 local time, there were no casualties, and the incident was under investigation, according to Chinese media.
Pictures and video footage have surfaced online showing a significant fire.
The former Soviet Kiev-class aircraft carrier MINSK appears to have been badly damaged by a major fire in Nantong, China, where it is undergoing repairs. The ship used to be a tourist attraction known as Minsk World. https://t.co/SJyXOmkzlY
– Chris Cavas (@CavasShips) August 16, 2024
8月16日,jiangsu 南通。停面在苏锡通园区数年前前主海航母”明斯克”号在拆除号在拆除改現简中中文方通报旅人代亡
In January of this year, 南通 announced that “明斯克号” will be the main body of the national defense industry pic.twitter.com/EFJCVtHCmB— 李老师不是你老师 (@whyyoutouzhele) August 16, 2024
A fire on board even a well-maintained ship can be a disaster, especially if it is under maintenance and only a bare-bones crew is on board to look after it. A prime example is the fire that lasted for days on board a US Navy ship Bee USS-class amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard in 2020, which ultimately resulted in the total loss of the ship. What is left Minsk has not, by any indication, been kept in good shape, which can create increased risk.
Minsk commissioned into the Soviet Navy in 1978. The Kiev class as a whole there is something strange among warships, with a 40,000-ton-displacement vessel looking more like a hybrid of an aircraft carrier and a battlecruiser than a traditional flattop, which you can read more about here.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Navy inherited the ship, but quickly found it cumbersome and expensive. In 1993, the Minsksister ship Novorossiysk especially suffered a large engine room fire.
Three out of four Kiev class operators were eventually sold off, with Minsk and Novorossiysk initially headed for a pirate ship in South Korea. Admiral Gorshkov (his original name Baku) was sold to India in 2004 and became the subject of its own saga before finally entering service in that country in 2013 as the INS. Vikramaditya.
Novorossiysk it was ultimately scrapped in South Korea, but local protests led to it Minsk sold to a Chinese company to be destroyed. A group of Chinese businessmen then rescued the formerMinsk from the torch. The ship, with a mix of retired Soviet and Chinese fighter jets on deck, became the centerpiece of an amusement park called Minsk World that opened in 2000. Minsk World went bankrupt in 2006 and the Chinese government eventually seized the land it was built on. at.
At the end of 2010, Minskalready in a poor condition, it was moved to its current location, about 50 miles northwest of the city of Shanghai in China. The plan to create a new Minsk World never came to fruition and the ship that kept breaking down became a destination for the so-called ‘city explorers’, as you can see in the video below.
There are reports that authorities in the nearby city of Nantong have announced plans in January to rehabilitate the ship and turn it into a “national defense science education center.”
It is interesting to note that the former Kiev also in China, it is a separate tourist attraction at the Binhai Aircraft Park in Tianjin, China, about 100 miles southeast of Beijing. In 2011, the company that owns Binhai announced plans to transform the operator, which has been well maintained Minskto a floating luxury hotel.
The extent of the damage is the former Minsk now it has suffered to remain visible. Unfortunately, the story of the ship that has been so sad will now finally come to an end.
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