Admiral Kuznetsov on fire
 

Plagued by bad luck. Maybe they should ask China to return the Liaoning?
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/...rn-port-a68579

I think that is her service life complete.

Given the smoke it normally belches how did they know it was on fire?

Probably would have been safer if it was moored to its usual dock.

... and incompetent dockyard workers, no concept of HSW or engineering rigour, etc. etc. ?

I thought its usual floating (dry) dock sank last year and also a crane knocked a huge hole in the flight deck.

I'm sure those Russian naval aviators will be breathing a sigh of relief, not having to operate from that clapped out hulk ever again.

"Err Sergei, how deep is this semi-submersible dry dock supposed to sink?"
"A few metres, give or take. I'm sure it'll come back up any moment..."

Was it Illustrious that had a bad fire on the 80s?

I think when people bang on about how the Russians are a threat they need to remember just how awful their support is...............

1986. An assembly defect in one of the main gearboxes ignited the oil mist therein causing "disassembly" of said gearbox. The ensuing fire took a while to put out. She was setting off on a round-the-world trip, Global 86. She eventually did the second half of the trip which, of course, simply had to be referred to as Global 43. There was only 1 casualty thank goodness but it needed more than a lick of paint to repair the damage. In all, very fortunate and a great credit to the crew for dealing with the major event + those getting her ready for the rest of that trip.

During my short time on the old (Old) Ark Royal I had many opportunities to visit Boiler Flats (8), Turbine Flats (4) gearbox rooms (4), and ancillary equipment areas. All brass piping polished to a mirror, Stokers and engineers in crisp white boiler suits, Very, very impressive and relatively quiet even when running at full chat. Another interesting, and occasionally dangerous place was the catapult equipment area. Huge pieces of metal and long lengths of cable under tension moving at high speed. My favourite "spotting" place was the Flag Deck to which I had almost direct access from my workspace. Oh the joys of youth, new ports and experiences..

IG

Before we get too cocky, wasn't Victorious so damaged by a dockyard fire that her refit was abandoned, and I seem to recall another of the Grey Funnel Line's carriers was similarly disabled (Centaur or Bulwark?) in almost identical circumstances. Happy to be corrected.

She did indeed, as chronicled here https://api.parliament.uk/historic-h...ictorious-fire but in reality, despite the sad loss of life of one senior rating, the 1967 fire was actually quickly confined to an accommodation space and did not create any major damage. However, the Labour government of the day used the fire as a rather feeble excuse to bring a fine old lady's life to a premature end in 1968, and she was subsequently broken up at Faslane.

Jack

To be fair, we are talking old tech back in those days which was probably much more prone to fire.....

........ things have clearly improved a lot/moved on, certainly in the RN .......................

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...s-return-port/

Hat, coat, liferaft anyone? :} H 'n' H

The Kutznetsov will be nearly 40 by the time they get her out - if they ever do - you really have to think it#s a waste of money - they could make an offer for the PoW instead............ hat, coat, TAXI!

There is a degree of false equivalence here - while HM armed forces have certainly had their share of dockyard accidents and fires, the Russian safety record is of a different order of magnitude, especially their nuclear safety record for submarines when compared to that of the RN or USN.

Anyone remember the submarine reactor that was minutes away from a meltdown because the naval base hadn’t paid their electric bill and had the supply cut off disabling the reactor’s coolant system ? That was only resolved when the base commander sent an armed detachment of soldiers to politely ask if they would turn the power back on. Imagine that happening in Rosyth.

There still seems to be this mindset that the Russians are really “just like us” - when in fact they are nothing like us.

Joking aside ... absolutely Fonsini - and not just in the Armed Forces. The whole ethos goes right back to the situation found in the latter stages of Imperial Russia through into the post-Revolutionary Leninist, and particularly, Stalinist eras which shaped socio-industrial priorities in the then Soviet Union. Even today, one only has to look at Putins background and his current military build-up to see that, within the somewhat limiting economic constraints still faced, similar prioritisation still seems to be an important factor to achieve the end goal, whatever that happens to be.

As we have seen so clearly demonstrated in so many areas of the world which have rapidly changed/been changed, in very many cases the underlying ethoses are harder to shake off or reposition, the change being more of a rapidly applied veneer over a fundamental, deeply-rooted and slow-changing core. And sometimes the glue fixing the veneer in place is patchy at best. Well, that’s how I see it as a simple soul based on my take of the many changes I’ve seen in 6 decades.

I could also go on about the Origins of the Universe and other such topics but I suspect H 'n' H has bored you all enough... :}

IIrc, Russia tried that approach with the Mistrals from France and it failed.
Perhaps if Labor had won the election, they might have put in a bid....