Russian Warship To Be Repaired In Bulgaria

Russian landing ship Caesar Kunikov in Bosphorus. This is a photo from April 2012 activation of the BlackSeaFor.

I’m sorry for my absence since last Friday. As you might have guess I was, I’m and I will be very much occupied with the things going on in Gezi Parkı, Taksim. Thus I have little time left for the maritime domain.

The Russian Naval portal flot.com posted today that one of the Ropucha class, large landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet 158 Caesar Kunikov will be overhauled in Bulgaria and this despite the ban of sending Russian warships to foreign shipyards for repairs by Vladimir Putin.

Order of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin to ban the repair of warships of the Russian Navy outside the country will not affect the large landing ship (BDK) “Caesar Kunikov,” said the Central Navy Portal source of the Black Sea Fleet. Soon the ship, according to the previously signed contract, will leave the shipyard in Bulgaria. 

According to the source portal, delivery BDK to repair plant is scheduled for early July. Currently, the ship is ready to send, deliver it to the plant by the tug. “Best BDK repair these Polish in Poland, but to drive through Europe – expensive” – shared source TSVMP. Repairs Russian navy warship in Varna will be held in the state debt of Bulgaria to the Soviet Union. Back in April 2013, Vladimir Putin has rejected a proposal by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Russia to send warships to renovate on foreign shipyards. How then wrote “The News”, the President instructed to organize the work of a ship repair yards in the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on defense. Presidential Order has called into question the implementation of the signed contract early and the Bulgarian Ministry of Defence shipyard “Naval arsenal” of full restoration of BDK “Caesar Kunikov. BDK The plan was to leave for a two-year overhaul in March 2013. In connection with the presidential decree froze the Navy sent ships to Varna. All the while, “Caesar Kunikov” was in the harbor of Sevastopol, pending a command. In May, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told RIA “Novosti” that each order for shipbuilding and ship repair outside the country will be tested individually.

There a few important information in the short text.
In her current state Caesar Kunikov is not capable to make this short trip of 300 nautical miles from Sevastopol to Varna on her own. She has to be towed. She participated to the April activation of the BlackSeaFor last year and I had the opportunity to visit the ship. The visitors were not allowed to the inside of the ship so I have no idea about the state of her interior. But if a ship becomes inoperable in a year this tells much about the maintenance in Russian Navy.

Another important thing is that Russia is using foreign yard for overhaul or repair its ships. What does this means for the Russian shipbuilding industry? Does it meant that the Russian shipyards are to overloaded with new constructions, that they cannot spare any resources to repair old ships? Or does it mean that the Russian Navy is not satisfied with the quality of the workmanship in Russian shipyards and prefers foreign yards?

Any way you look at it the sight is not pretty.