Experts: the concept of "a new ship in the old hull" did not pay off
February 20, 2020 at 15:05 Theme: Industry
Russian industry has so far failed to promptly carry out repairs and modernization of most large combat surface ships: cruisers, destroyers and BOD. Thus, the concept of “a new ship in the old hull” as applied to them did not materialize. This was told to Mil.Press FlotProm by the interlocutors at the Navy Scientific and Research Center of Naval Forces and the Krylov State Scientific Center.

This was encountered during the modernization of the Project 1164 Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser , and difficulties continue with the Admiral Kuznetsov Project 11435 heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser , as well as the Admiral Nakhimov Project 1144 heavy nuclear-powered cruiser . The modernization of the Peter the Great TARK is actually actually being delayed to the right, and in the case of the RKR Moskva , the shipbuilders have so far limited themselves to repairs (restoration of marching readiness).
Project 956 destroyers could not be maintained in combat readiness (including due to problems with the boiler turbine power plant),Quick "). And the project 1155 BOD will have a large-scale modernization with the reclassification of finished ships to frigates. Its terms traditionally went right: the first five ships were planned to be modernized by 2022. The
average age of the Russian Navy warships exceeded 25 years. The United States has this figure of 20 years , China is 13 years old, said one of the interlocutors of the publication from the former I Institute (now - VSC Navy).
"The large surface ships built in the" golden era "of the USSR Navy have already reached their maximum service lives," he added. "In parallel with maintaining the combat readiness of the old combat units of the fleet, it is necessary to proceed as quickly as possible, finally, to the serial construction of ships in the far sea and ocean zones. For example, project 22350 and 22350M frigates should be built at once in several shipyards, having previously solved the problems with their power plant - with gas turbine engines and gearboxes, and project 20380/20385/20386 corvettes - put in a large series, because these ships are essential for the near sea zone. "
He added that in order to maintain and develop competencies in the design, construction and operation of large ocean-going ships, the creation of the promising destroyer Leader, which is now virtually frozen, should be accelerated . In the event of sufficient seriality, these ships will have to replace Soviet-built missile cruisers, the repair and modernization of which have actually failed. Another option is the creation of a multi-purpose destroyer-class ship with a displacement of about 10-12 thousand tons with a gas turbine power plant. However, the fleet has so far settled on an atomic EM with a displacement of 19 thousand tons.
In turn, the second interlocutor of the publication from the KSCC noted that the modernization of old Soviet cruisers, destroyers and BOD is "a matter of state prestige and the maintenance of at least some large ships of the ocean zone for a while, until the industry was rebuilt to produce a new Russian ocean fleet."
Dmitry Zhavoronkov
By the way also the scope of Peter the Great’s modernization will be reduced and mainly focused on repairing and updating the ship’s main power plant. ...
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We already saw that the modernisation of such ships takes a lot of time and it is very expensive... not just for the large nuclear cruisers, but also for destroyers... sometimes they needed 3/4 years to modernise them... now that they have again the facilities, the engines and the equipment to build new ships they probably should limit large modernization to only where it makes sense (e.g. Udaloy class).
As an example, I fully believe that admiral Kuznetov needs to come back to service, but probably it is not practical and cost effective to modernize all the electronics and missile launchers...