Life for the fleet
A monument to Admiral Gennady Suchkov was unveiled in Polyarny, and a square named after him / Society / December, 2016
This event is not at all regional, but of an all-Russian scale, since we are talking about statesman, known in all four fleets of Russia - from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific, from the Black Sea to the Baltic.
Admiral G.A. Suchkov. 2002 year
And it's not even that Gennady Alexandrovich Suchkov, a sailor to the bone, was the only admiral in our history who had to command both the Northern and the Pacific fleets. Although this too ...
He did not lead his fleets into battle. In life, he had another task - to save these fleets from the pogrom of pseudo-reformers. To save from the thieves' sale of warships that have not served their time, to save the fleet from stagnation in bases and in indefinite repairs.
Thanks to the titanic efforts of the admiral, both of our ocean-going fleets retained their strategic core, their combat capability in the crafty pacifist times, when it was announced that Russia had no external enemies, and, in general, it did not really need the Armed Forces. How can you not recall the revolutionary year 1917, when the fleet was smashed and officers were thrown overboard ...
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But he thought otherwise and acted contrary to the treacherous doctrine. He fought to ensure that the fleet received weapons of the latest developments, and for the fact that invaluable specialists did not leave their ships.
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He laid down his soul for the fleet. This is not forgiven for us: “What are you, a saint? White crow?". So we will show you where the crows winter! "
It was not even an undercover fight: fights with conformists were held in open rings, if the court sessions can be called a ring.
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They were afraid of him. They were afraid that such an admiral would occupy the post of commander-in-chief and cover up the "warm places", block the dubious "financial flows." The tabloid press excitedly slandered about the "admiral's abuse" in connection with the delivery of new torpedoes to the fleet. Suchkov's persecution reached its peak when the admiral was classically framed with the towing of the decommissioned nuclear-powered ship K-159, which sank in the Barents Sea. Under the hooting of the "Democrats" the admiral was put on trial.
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The united Council of Veterans of the Navy, and the International Club of Submariners, and the heads of many constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and former commanders-in-chief and elders of the Russian fleet expressed their protests about the "high-profile" trial. But there was no need to fear "pressure on the court." Our military court, the most independent (especially from the opinion of the public) and, of course, the fairest in the world, determined the sentence of "three years probation."
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And then there was an unprecedented appointment of Suchkov to a new position: the "criminal", albeit a conditional one, was taken by the then Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Ivanov as an adviser. But this no longer bothered anyone. The main thing is that the likely contender for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy has been reliably eliminated. And although the punishment was conditional, the admiral's soul and heart ached more than real. It was the disaster of his entire impeccable career, or rather, all his difficult sea life, his selfless service to the Russian fleet. The only consolation was that such military leaders as Ushakov and Suvorov, Zhukov and Kuznetsov also knew disgrace ...
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The British have such a definition - "admiral from deck", that is, not a parquet admiral. With regard to the submariner Admiral Suchkov, it might sound like this: "an admiral from a strong corps." Most of his service was spent in the rugged hulls of Polarinsk submarines.
One of his long trips lasted 18 months! Nobody in the world left their bases for a year and a half. It was a record for human endurance, set not for the sake of the Guinness book, but due to the current military-political situation. Lieutenant Commander Gennady Suchkov passed this ordeal with flying colors.
A peasant grandson, the son of a front-line officer, he was a pupil and hero of the most desperate squadron in the Navy - the Fourth Squadron of Diesel Submarines. He passed all the official steps on it - from lieutenant-miner to commander-admiral. "Century" already told about the fate of Admiral Suchkov ("Forgive us, Admiral!" from 08/30/2013)
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“His father gave him the profession of defending the Motherland. In 1969, Gennady graduated from our best naval school - higher VMU named after M.V. Frunze, and came to the Northern Fleet as a lieutenant. First, he got on a minesweeper, but did everything to transfer to a submarine and, in the end, was appointed commander of a torpedo group on a diesel submarine B-9. It was from this time that he, as the sailors say, “did not get out of the seas”, a solid building became his second home: “autonomous” after “autonomous”, first for six months, then for nine months, then for a year, and in 1975–76 years an unwitting world record - military service apart from the base for 18 months! A year and a half in the Atlantic and Mediterranean in the compartments of a diesel submarine! "
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Note that Suchkov received all his lieutenant and captain's stars in the seas, and all his orders were sprinkled with sea salt - both the Order of the Red Star, and - For Service to the Motherland in the USSR Armed Forces. An officer without any connections, without support from above, walked the steps of the career ladder very confidently: submarine commander, submarine brigade commander, submarine squadron commander, deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet, commander of the Pacific Fleet, after the death of a nuclear submarine " Kursk "he was appointed commander of his native Northern Fleet ...
Prior to that, he served as First Deputy Commander of the Black Sea Fleet. In that more than difficult time, Suchkov, with all his heart, contributed to the preservation of the Russian fleet in the Crimea, and showed remarkable diplomatic efforts. Sevastopol residents pronounce his name with sincere respect and gratitude. And they are not alone.
***At the opening of the monument to the naval commander, his colleagues, friends, and most importantly, both sons - Alexander and Yegor, the grandson of Timur, who, together with the commander of the Kola flotilla, Vice-Admiral Oleg Golubev, pulled the cover off the monument, came to Polyarny. Then there was a solemn meeting, a rifle salute of the guard of honor. The crews of the Flotilla's surface and submarine ships marched on parade. The brass band played Farewell to a Slav, Victory Day and even Gennady Suchkov's favorite song, Farewell, Rocky Mountains, transposed to the marching step ...
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Admiral Suchkov "bronzed" only after his death. Three bronze busts were erected in his honor: in his small homeland in the city of Sechenov, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, at the Troekurovsky cemetery in Moscow and here, in Polyarny, the former capital of the Northern Fleet, which named Gennady Suchkov as her honorary citizen. During his lifetime, he was open to everyone who sought help and support from him. There was no more cheerful and witty interlocutor in the close company of officers.
But the most surprising thing: the submariner Suchkov never drank. I didn't even take a sip from the glass. He picked it up with everyone and put it on the table. Maybe this was the secret of his phenomenal memory and exceptional performance?
One way or another, Admiral Suchkov was more often seen on the berths and decks, in compartments and wheelhouses, than in the coastal office. And even far away on land, within the walls of the ministry, he always remained a sailor. He always had sailors. He always did everything for the fleet and in the name of the fleet. Let's believe that one day a warship with the name "Admiral Suchkov" will appear on board in the North. Admiral Suchkov rescued the fleet and helped the sailors. But he could not save himself, he could not help himself - he died suddenly from a neglected disease. Usually in such cases they say - burned out at work. Yes, it burned out. But his life shone like a torch. Like the light of a beacon warning: your course is in danger.
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Now they stand in the immediate vicinity: a bust of Admiral Gennady Suchkov and a bronze statue of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov. Both are looking at the berths of the Catherine harbor, at the ships flying the St. Andrew's flag, ready to sail to the distant seas. This was the meaning of the service and service of Admiral Gennady Aleksandrovich Suchkov - to send to distant seas warships, and wait for them with victory.
The article was published within the framework of the socially significant project “Russia and the Revolution. 1917 - 2017 "using state support funds allocated as a grant in accordance with the President's order Russian Federation dated 08.12.2016 No. 96 / 68-3 and on the basis of a competition held by the All-Russian public organization « Russian union rectors ".
For several years now, a struggle has been going on in Moscow for the Peter the Great Moscow City Children's Marine Center, or, as teachers and graduates call it in the old-fashioned way, the Club of Young Seafarers of River and Polar Explorers (KYUMRP). The city's Department of Education intends to dispose of the club's flotilla, consisting of four ships, which since 1957 have provided full-fledged practice for thousands of future captains, navigators, mechanics.
Authorities say the ships, one of which was built in 1937, are dilapidated and unsafe for teaching children. The opposite side - the social movement "Save the Fleet" - claims that the ships have recently been repaired and are in good condition. And the process of destroying ships is not connected with taking care of schoolchildren, but with plans to build a hotel complex on the last unbuilt plot of land on the coast of the Khimki reservoir.
YOUNG SEAFAN CLUB: FROM 1957 TO OUR DAYS
The Moscow City Club of young sailors, river and polar explorers was established by the order of the Moscow City Council on the basis of the Moskvoretsky Children's Park in 1957. From the very beginning, the club had its own flotilla of training ships that made long voyages with crews of cadets. Schoolchildren underwent practical training on ships and vessels of the Baltic, Northern and Black Sea Fleets, participated in conferences, rallies and meetings with famous sailors. By the way, the club itself was created with the participation of the legendary polar explorer Ivan Papanin. At the exit, schoolchildren received "crusts" in the specialties "navigator", "signalman" and "mechanic", but in the late 90s they stopped issuing documents. During the existence of the club, more than 50 thousand people studied in it, a third of them linked their lives with the civil and military fleet.
The club's problems began in April 2013, when it was first renamed the Peter the Great Moscow City Children's Maritime Center (MGDMTs), and then included in the Center for Military-Patriotic and Civil Education (TsVPGV). Since that time, there has been talk about the need to dismantle four ships at the disposal of the center: "Saima", "Leningrad", "Belyakov" and "UK-5". In the fall of 2014, "Leningrad", "Belyakov" and "UK-5", based on a contractual auction, were sent to the Gorodetsky shipyard near Nizhny Novgorod for the next scheduled repair. More than 10 million rubles were allocated from the city budget for this.
According to employees of KYuM and the public movement "Save the Fleet", the work was almost completed ( "The contracts for repairs were 80-90% fulfilled, and 99% for the Leningrad y / s"), when in the summer of 2015 the contracts were terminated by agreement of the parties. The ships were locked inside the factory, where they remain to this day. Most big ship club, the motor ship "Saima", is located in Moscow, however, outsiders, including journalists, are not allowed to come near the ship by the guard of the TsVPGV. On January 18, 2016, the Moscow City Property Department issued an order on the write-off and disposal of all ships on the basis of defect detection reports issued by the Russian River Register, where the ships were declared unfit. The crews of the three ships at the plant have already been notified of the reduction.
RARE SHIPS
Are the ships so dilapidated and unsafe for children, we ask the chief mechanic of "Saimaa" Ivan Zhatko.
– No, I don’t think so and will never agree with that, ”he replies. - Ships can go for 100 years, and 200, and 300. It all depends on how they are looked after. All our ships are refurbished and in good condition. The motor ship "Belyakov" was built in 1937; she also starred in the film "Volga-Volga". But the administration is silent that six years ago the underwater part of the hull was completely replaced, the electrical equipment was changed and repaired, it has the latest navigation and even a computer that monitors the presence of water in the ship's hull. Finishing of the premises is done, there are air conditioners, TVs and video surveillance. According to the documents, it was built in 37, but in fact it is new ship... Moreover, this is already a rarity, there is no second such.
According to Ivan, all ships are repaired every five years.
– "Leningrad" 1951 release. This does not mean that this is a piece of scrap metal, which already does not represent anything. It underwent scheduled repairs every five years, all the necessary units were changed or repaired. "Leningrad" is 99% ready, it may need to change five or six square meters decks and fencing, it costs about 100 thousand rubles. The sailing ship is safe.
“Saimaa” was built in 65, but from 2010 to 2012 almost 25 million rubles were invested in the repair of the ship. The underwater part of the hull is completely new, the rudder group is made, the electrical equipment is made, the only problem is in the decoration - it is necessary to paint the walls, change the furniture somewhere, because no one has dealt with these issues inside the ship for the last 30 years. Likewise, according to "UK-5", he is the youngest, 1979. Everything that was needed was done in the factory. Meanwhile, our ship owner positions that the courts are not repairable.
CLUB VERSION: DISPOSAL OF SHIPS \u003d DESTRUCTION OF EVIDENCE
“Initially, we saw the problem as an attempt to hide the theft of funds allocated for the repair of ships, because some of the work was not completed, and some was carried out at greatly inflated prices. They overestimated literally 10 times, what cost 1000 rubles, our organization paid as 10 thousand, - voiced the opinion of the Center's employees, the senior mechanic of Saima. - The second main reason is that we have very good land next to the Vodny Stadium metro station. As long as there are ships, the shore is needed. There are no ships - the site will go to some kind of developer, who, I think, had an eye on it a long time ago. Believe me, this is the only piece of land on the Khimki reservoir that still belongs to the state. "
“Why was it decided to dispose of the ships and not sell them, for example? There is only non-ferrous metal for millions, - asks the lawyer, former cadet of the club Ivan Yuzhin and quickly answers his question. - It is impossible to get rid of the courts “according to the law”, the vessels are in good working order, they have undergone scheduled repairs, budget funds have been spent. Their write-off and disposal has a criminal principle, and the criminal principle requires the destruction of evidence. They wanted to start the disposal procedure already in September, but then our initiative group appeared ”.
According to Ivan, once the Young Sailors' Club actually saved his life. In the early 90s, a fatherless street hooligan, completely out of control and dropping out of school, suddenly fell ill with the sea ... For several years I went to the Leningrad, recovered at school, entered a university, got a profession and good work, and recalls the years in the club with trepidation. Similar stories are told by many former cadets.
“KYUM has always been such a melting pot, where children from very different families found a common language, sometimes for many years. Now, in a crisis, this is especially important, parents start to work more and earn less: hobbies that are really interesting for teenagers are either expensive or dangerous. And here there is both interest and a safe risk, and the club has never been an expensive pleasure, ”says Maria Cheglyaeva, a former Saima student, now the head of the MIR 24 internet broadcast.
But back from the lyric to the prosaic. “In the 90s, a program for the development of the coast of the Khimki Reservoir was adopted, among others the land plot transferred by the Moscow Council to the Young Seamen's Club took part. This is the last piece of land on the Khimki reservoir not used for commercial purposes. Previously, there were two of them, ours and the neighboring one. The neighboring plot belonged to DOSAAF, at first there was a very good maritime school "Severomorets", then they began to train drivers there. About half a year ago, this land plot was taken away, and ours remained. While. There is also a small plot on the opposite side, but this is a water protection zone, it is quite tiny, ”says the lawyer.
“So, in 1997, the development of the coasts was accepted, and the notorious INTECO company received investment rights to the land plot, which was taken out from KYUM. According to the investment contract, a new building with a gym and a swimming pool, a high-quality pier and so on were to be built on the territory of the base. For some reason, INTECO did not do anything, and property rights transferred to another firm. Nothing happened either, but at some point this land plot disappeared from the cadastral registration. If you open the cadastral map today, you will not see it in the register - it is not. This is considered empty land, that is, undivided, undefined. A small strip of land was left for the club, I am convinced that it was left due to the fact that it is just a water protection zone. In 2011-2012, the club's employees began to write to the Moscow government, Mr. Isaak Kalina, Marat Khusnullin, with a request to return the site, but there were no answers. "
LEGALITY OF DESCRIPTION OF SHIPS
According to Yuzhin, from a legal point of view, the decommissioning of ships is illegal for a number of reasons. Representatives of the “Let's Save the Fleet” public movement have not seen the original orders on the basis of which the disposal is planned. In addition, the documents were certified only by a seal, but not by a signature, which is a necessary formality in documents of this kind. The documents in question are, firstly, the order of the Property Department No. 633 and 634 dated January 18, 2016. 634 is for the motor ship "Saima", 633 is for the other three ships.
“We have state, municipal property at the disposal of the property department - if in Moscow, the Federal Property Management Agency - if in Russia. But the state is not engaged in money-grubbing; on the contrary, it must use this property. It is distributed among institutions, business entities - it can be rent, operational management, in our case, the property was transferred to the Department of Education for operational management. In this case, the Department of Education should be considered exactly as the owner ”.
“We have budget funds that have been spent, the result has not been achieved, and the property has been lost. According to the decree of the Moscow government, an algorithm for writing off property has been established. To do this, you must provide a package of documents, including an act of market value assessment. This act should not be made more than six months before the submission of these documents. An estimate was made for Saima, but last January. For the rest, they did not do it in principle. Yes, maybe they did it somehow at the level of a cameral assessment, that is, they evaluated it solely on the basis of documents, but how can you trust this? The market value is still based on the actual condition of the property. Judging by the fact that they did not conduct the assessment, they could not collect the required package of documents. "
According to naval practice, a ship that currently does not meet the requirements and is formally recognized as unusable is either sent for repairs, or written off - removed from the fleet, but usually not disposed of, but transferred to someone. In this case, unfitness does not mean the impossibility of using it in the everyday sense, but the presence of certain remarks when passing the examination. Even if the ship passed it later than the deadline, the deed will contain "unusable" with the note "missed deadline". At the same time, the ship may be in good condition and need to eliminate formal remarks. In our case, the inspector of the RRR was not provided with documents confirming the performance of the work, due to their retention by the shipyard and the contractor, OOO Neptune.
BOAT CAMP REPLACING SHIPS AND FORMER WARSHIP
After stories about the fate of the flotilla appeared in a number of media outlets, Igor Pavlov, the deputy head of the Moscow Department of Education, announced that it was planned to buy others instead of the scrapped ships by the summer of 2016.
“This is a lie,” says Ivan Zhatko. - Our administration said that they will probably buy by the summer of 17th. But we don't believe in this either: normal people first, new ships are brought in, and then the old ones are disposed of. None of them said what kind of ships they want to buy. And I'll tell you: they want to buy four small boats. Two of them are motor-sailing, 12 meters long, for 12 children. And two small boats, wooden, which there is no one to maintain and store, for four people. That is, four units of the fleet in total can take on 30 people. Such small ships, with a boat size, do not provide safety of navigation in any way. In addition, there are no toilets, no electricity, and no refrigerator. There is a gas stove, which is just dangerous on a wooden ship. These ships cannot provide normal, safe practice ”.
"Saima" takes almost 100 cadets, "Leningrad" (former ship - Project 122-BIS Big Submarine Hunter) - 30. This despite the fact that these are large iron ships, safe, with refrigerators, normal kitchen, toilets, showers, good living quarters and normal practice. Children, if they want to continue to work in the navy, will not go on boats and oars, but will work on large ships, that is, they must also practice on the appropriate ships. "Saima" and "Leningrad" have a register class M30, the highest on inland waterways. So it's just an unequal substitute, even if there is one. And in terms of cost - they seem to be going to spend 25 million - believe me, to repair four of our ships, this money will even be a lot. "
According to the crew, the small vessels promised by the Moscow government will go for a maximum of one day walks in the Khimki reservoir area:
"Saima" went on the route Moscow - St. Petersburg and back, or Moscow - Volgograd and back. “Leningrad” is the same. And these small boats will go for day trips at most in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Khimki reservoir. As such, there will be no practice - it will be just a ride of children on boats. And on our ships, children undergo a full amount of training: they control the ship, they learn to operate the controls and navigation of the ship, they keep watch in the engine room, and they help in the galley, that is, our children completely replace the crew. There is nothing to do on a small boat, - the mechanic of the motor ship "Saima" sighs. - And how many of these small ships are sinking, you cannot imagine ... ".
VERSION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND CVPGV
Most surface ships in developed countries are equipped with gas turbine power plants (GTU). The USSR was one of the three monopolists-producers of this most complex technology. But in 1991, the X-hour came, and Ukraine became a monopolist.
Invisible ships
Until 2014, the Ukrainian state enterprise NPK gas turbine construction Zorya - Mashproekt regularly supplied new units and repaired the engines of ships in service with the Russian Navy. And now the order, which was favorable for our officials, collapsed - we are building ships, but there are no engines. Worse, due to engine wear and tear, combat ships are being repaired, which today do not belong to the factory "wall", but somewhere in the Mediterranean and other seas and oceans - there are plenty of external threats to Russia, the country's interests need to be protected.
Corvettes, frigates, destroyers, cruisers - all with Ukrainian (read - foreign) engines. It is pointless to raise the question of why the steering industries overslept this threat. Decisions on what to do on our own were made back in the mid-2000s, money was mastered, the result is known. The discrepancy between words (decisions) and deeds is obvious. The same story is happening in other industries. Where are the Tu-334 and Il-114? Why civil Aviation saddled Boeings and Airbuses? It's a shame to talk about the element base of radio electronics and machine-tool building. I just want to sing along to Sergei Trofimov: “Uncle Vova, where are the landing? Kolyma has dug up the beds, and all honest people are asking to sow the garden ... "Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin rushes around the enterprises of the Defense Industrial Complex and stimulates" effective "managers with weighty kicks. After that, the deadlines for the delivery of some products, including for the ships of the Navy, return from the foggy distant to quite tangible this year... For example, if the Rybinsk NPO Saturn promised to hand over the long-awaited GTU for new ships only six months ago for testing in 2018, now they are threatening to present it at the end of 2016. Progress is evident.
But what to do with ships from the fleet's combat strength? In February last year, after a 196-day cruise, the frigate returned to the Baltic Fleet base, and the patrol ship Yaroslav the Wise returned in the old way. Behind the stern - the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, the pirates of the Gulf of Aden. And one of the two DO-90 afterburners that failed. Without it, the full speed of the ship is impossible. Here he stands, waiting for the power plant, such an invisible ship. It is not visible in the seas. There is no design documentation for the engines, it is in Nikolaev. Rigging, strapping, specific tools - in the same place. The Chinese way of stupid copying was a failure in advance - materials, units and elements of ship's gas turbine engines were developed by Zorya - Mashproekt since 1948. But specialists from the Novik industrial group, which won the tender for the repair of many ships of the Russian Navy, found a way out - they went to the aircraft engine builders in Samara.
Roughly fit - to renovate
Why Metalist-Samara? The company works with gas turbine engines - time. Owns a bunch of technologies, production facilities and personnel - two. The production is run by Yuri Eliseev, a super-professional in aircraft engine building, and General Designer Dmitry Fedorchenko, another indisputable authority-engine builder. And, importantly, Metalist is not a member of any state corporation, it is a private enterprise - there are no “effective” managers here as a class.
After the checkpoint, they meet the most famous products of the Samara enterprise. The ZU-23 twin anti-aircraft gun is one of the most popular in the Middle East today: it has been installed in the back of a Toyota or Mitsubishi pickup truck - and a mobile rapid-fire firing point is ready, 2 thousand rounds per minute. We stopped producing it decades ago, but many countries picked up the pace of production. Ammunition for her is made even in Switzerland and Finland.
There is also a combustion chamber of the most famous "export-oriented" domestic rocket engines - RD-180. This is for the Atlas launch vehicle (USA). It is also RD-170, 171 - the Energia-Buran complex.
But the main highlight is the most complex afterburners of the NK-32 and NK-25 engines, which are installed on the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 supersonic strategic missile carriers. A mesmerizing web! There are five circuits, collectors, which are regulated separately. You can control the power of the afterburner, dispensers - for each manifold. In this way, fuel economy is achieved, the range increases, which for Long-range aviation the most important factor. Thousands of experiments were required for such a "pattern" of tubes to work - the fragile-looking parts must function in the monstrously hot conditions of a hot gas stream. Detonation or vibration combustion may occur, resulting in an explosion. A lot of little things, and everything must be interconnected and balanced in order to work reliably. The plant mastered these cameras in 1982. Old stuff? Until recently, the engines of Su-27 fighters had only one circuit - either afterburner or not. Today, however, on engines for new types of "Sushki", similar solutions have also been applied. Most likely, this technology demonstration played a decisive role in the decision of the Novik PG to master the repair of ship engines at Metallist.
“Ukrainian marine engines are a completely new direction for us,” says Dmitry Fedorchenko, general designer of Metallist-Samara, and calmly answers questions.
- Extremely unrepairable. Made as disposable.
- So what?
- Disassembled, repaired and assembled. In my opinion, a lot can be changed there.
- How about on ships, in long hikes do ship mechanics cope with them?
- The ship is not an airplane - it will not fall, but there are several turbines there, - and summarizes: - There, in Nikolaev, the designers are excellent professionals. It's just that the school is different.
Aviation thought in general is an interesting and material thing. I remember the doors to the SNTK named after N.D. Kuznetsova. Installed at a slight slope, tapered, they open very easily and close under their own weight. No brittle closers, springs and other rubbish are needed. I ask, why not do this everywhere? In response, only a sarcastic laugh. And no one has patented - they say, "it was so from ancient times."
The main thing is school
What is a school - from a general designer to a skilled worker? Imagine one of the spacious and bright workshops of Metallist. Around the vertically placed engine element, two masters move smoothly, as in an ancient dance:
- Now we are assembling the “R” product of the second stage (NK-32 for the Tu-160 strategist. - Ed. Note). Sometimes we also use a sledgehammer - you see, the tube is crooked, we need to correct its size. There a millimeter - here half a millimeter.
Right there, on the harness, strange sticks stick out. I ask:
- Are these operations spelled out in the instructions?
- No, we set for ourselves, then we will remove. Halved to remove the gap later. Seryog, it was in what year we came up with the idea to do this, - ritually addresses his partner: - In 85, or what?
- And what about the designers?
- They are like that of a designer. Do you think they know everything at once and in advance?
"Mom dear!" - I thought. God forbid, these bearers of knowledge and skills will leave - who will ensure strategic parity?
There are also repaired combustion chambers from Siemens - the qualifications of our workers, it turns out, fully comply with European quality standards and technologies. What is the difference between similar Western industries? Perhaps cleaner there. More smiling people and a well-groomed area. But here I always remember an example of business organization - the plant of the Ukrainian company Motor Sich, all in pink flower beds.
The cries of ultra-liberal gentlemen that Russian industry is using outdated and ineffective Soviet technologies everywhere is nonsense. But their screams are heard by everyone. Many people believe. It is extremely difficult to give an adequate answer, says the general designer:
- You can talk to almost any engineer about art, painting. But rarely with what humanities it will turn out to discuss the mode, for example, afterburner thrust.
They show me the NK-32 gas generator. The melting point of nickel alloys is 1350 degrees. In flight, they warm up to 2000 degrees, hellish temperature - and everything is fine. A finely tuned cooling system is working! The same thing that is called a scientific and technological school.
I ask: “Russian Navy will not be left without ship gas turbine power plants (GTU)? "
- If there is a normal organization of the case, then everything will be fine. There is no need to click on only one organization - the United Engine Corporation (UEC). Say, only the UEC companies will master the repair and manufacture of ship-borne gas turbines. Four engines are under repair now. Novik is a company that has contracts for the repair of entire ships. They know how to do it. And the engine was the first for them and for us.
In 2014, I saw the very first engine that arrived “at low speed” in Samara. A pile of rusty iron! It seemed cheaper to throw it away. And now it is as good as new, and it is being put on the frigate Yaroslav the Wise - it is expected that in a month and a half the frigate will find full speed. The next in line is "Fearless", the BOD "Admiral Chabanenko".
Russia and Italy have long been linked by friendly relations. These relations remain strong today, when spiteful critics from the European Union are trying to drive a wedge between our countries with their sanctions. And how can you forget that off the southern coast of Italy, the Russian fleet under the leadership of Admiral Ushakov fought bravely against Napoleon's troops and that when the strongest earthquake struck Sicily, it was the Russians who first came to the rescue.
More than a hundred years later, Italy remembers well tragic eventsthat happened in Sicily at the very end of 1908. First of all, they touched the residents of the city of Messina, who became victims the most powerful earthquake December 28, 1908. By chance, Russian sailors became participants in the rescue operation.
The earthquake in Messina is considered the most powerful in the entire history of seismic observations in Europe. It happened early in the morning, when people were still sleeping in their homes. A few hours later, nothing like human habitation remained from Messina and the nearby fishing villages. The destruction was also added by a huge six-meter wave that covered the coastal parts of the island. Communication with other Italian territories was cut, and help was not sent out for a long time, not knowing about the terrible incident.
The first to come to the aid of the city were Russian sailors, who made an educational and introductory voyage along Mediterranean Sea... The point is that after Russo-Japanese War it took a lot of work to restore the former combat capability of the Russian fleet. It was necessary to conduct training and retraining of personnel to staff the command staff of new warships. To accomplish this task, a special detachment was assembled, which included the battleships "Tsesarevich" and "Slava" and the cruisers "Bogatyr" and "Admiral Makarov". This detachment was commanded by Rear Admiral Vladimir Ivanovich Litvinov. Trainees, graduates of the Marine Corps and the Engineering Institute, more than 160 people in total, were accommodated on board the ships. It should be noted that before leaving for the exercises, the crews were visited by Nicholas II, who urged the sailors to remember that they are envoys of their homeland.
In October 1908, planned exercises began in the Mediterranean Sea, main task which was the training of young officers with no practical experience. Upon completion curricula the detachment was stationed in the Italian port of Augusta, very close to Messina, only 70 miles.
Already in the evening of that tragic day, the port captain and the Russian consul Makeev turned to Rear Admiral Litvinov with a request to provide assistance to the inhabitants of Messina. Litvinov reported the current situation to St. Petersburg, and the ships came to the rescue.
The disaster destroyed the city completely. All houses, port facilities were destroyed, numerous fires were observed. According to various sources, from 100 to 200 thousand people died as a result of the Messinian earthquake. The surviving residents were mad with grief and pain, asking for help.
Transportation of wounded Messinians, earthquake victims, to Russian ships
Russian sailors began to clear the rubble. At this time the tremors continued, which greatly complicated the rescue work. In the city, dressing stations were deployed, which helped to save many lives. A few days later, the sailors of the arriving British squadron took part in the rescue work.
The work was carried out around the clock. More than 2 thousand citizens were rescued from the rubble alone. All the victims - the wounded, the sick - as well as children and old people were transported on Russian ships to various cities in Italy. On return flights, medicines, food, and disinfectants were delivered.
In 1909, the Russian naval minister received a letter from Italian doctors in which they thanked the Russian sailors for their selfless work and fraternal care for the victims of Messina, assuring him that Italy will forever remember the help of Russian sailors.
Until now, the memory of this feat is carefully kept. Many streets of the city are named after Russian sailors-rescuers. A memorial plaque was placed on the municipality building in 1978 in memory of the generous assistance of the crews of Russian ships. The city is decorated with a sculptural composition, opened in 2012, dedicated to the feat of Russian sailors. This place is called the "Russian corner", and it was this place that became a memorable historical site of Messina.
