Three colleagues and I finally – after all this time in the area! – went to check out the retired Russian aircraft carrier, the Minsk. It is a stone’s throw away from Dameisha, in the Yantian port area.
From Wikipedia : Named after the capital city of Belarus, the Minsk was laid down in 1972, launched on 30 September 1975, completed on 27 September 1978, and decommissioned on 30 June 1993. The Minsk operated with the Pacific Fleet. She was retired as a result of a major accident (details not known) which required the facilities at the Chernomorskiy yard, in Mykolayiv, located in the newly-independent Ukraine (the reasons for not attempting a repair are not known). In 1995 she was sold to a South Korean businessman, and later resold to Shenzhen Minsk Aircraft Carrier Industry Company Limited, a Chinese company.
Picture from Wikipedia : An aerial port beam view of the Soviet Kiev class aircraft carrier Minsk underway.The retired Minsk today, in Yantian port here in the Shenzhen area.That’s me posing in front of the middle of the port side of the ship. The gangway to the ship behind me is rusty and creaky!The layout of the ship. The take-off and landing strip is at the bottom, so not even the entire length of the ship.This is a torpedo. The ship has 10 × 533 mm torpedo tubes.This is one of 2 × twin SA-N-3 Shtorm SAM launchers. The ship could carry 72 missiles.I just liked this sign :).This is the view out over the sea on the starboard side of the ship, looking east.This is probably a Kamov Ka-25 or Ka-27 helicopter. The ship could carry 20 of these. The ship also carried 12 Yak-38M fighter aircraft.I am sitting in the captain’s seat on the main deck.Just some controls with the original Russian labeling.This is a table with a glass top in the ship .. I was interested in the picture of the ship while it was in service.You can even arrange to have your wedding ceremony and reception on the ship ! (Hmm, not so sure about that!)This is below the main deck, probably a Yak-38M fighter aircraft, with all its bombs laid out.We were lucky to catch this 6-man squad .. they did a march and a present-arms routine for us.Don’t be push-y? Don’t be push-ed? Both!This is a collection of mini-coats of arms in a display case on the ship. Those were the days of the Cold War and the USSR vs. the USA. The lines were drawn clearly and the colors (now faded) were black, bright blue and bright red.The year on this one is 1988, so this was barely a year or two before the break-up of the Soviet Union.This is a picture from the ship when it was filled with young sailors, these evidently in a friendly tug-of-war on the deck of the ship.
