Soviet-era carrier goes under the hammer and sickle

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Soviet-era carrier goes under the hammer and sickle

Posted: 2/17/2006 4:11:20 PM EDT

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2006-02-17T083717Z_01_PEK155070_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-CHINA-CARRIER.XML&archived=False

BEIJING (Reuters) - A lucky bidder may come away from an auction in China with their very own Russian aircraft carrier -- albeit one converted into a floating theme park with a movie theatre and restaurants.

Bidding is expected to start at a cool 128 million yuan (9 million pounds), Chinese media said on Friday.

The Minsk, a decades-old, decommissioned relic of the Soviet era, was first bought by a Chinese company for scrap metal in 1998 but then sold to an entertainment firm, which poured millions of dollars into turning the ship into a tourist attraction.

The carrier opened to the public in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen in September 2000 as the main draw of the military-themed Minsk Aircraft Carrier World amusement park.

A Chinese travel agency describes the theme park as "a harmonious combination of carrier appreciation, military recreation, typical seaside lifestyle in south China and military atmosphere".

The ship's attractions included torpedoes and a Russian dance troupe that performed folk dances, the agency says.

But the company that operated the park, Minsk World Industries Co. Ltd., sank deep into the red and was declared bankrupt by a Shenzhen court in March last year, the Beijing News reported.

The court commissioned a southern China-based auction firm to handle the March 22 sale of the ship, which the auction company confirmed on Thursday, it said.

Despite the company's collapse, the theme park had stayed in business and drew 33,000 visitors during the recent Lunar New Year holiday, the Shanghai Daily reported.

Posted: 2/17/2006 4:36:21 PM EDT

[#1]

Chinese travel agency describes the theme park as "a harmonious combination of carrier appreciation, military recreation, typical seaside lifestyle in south China and military atmosphere".

The ship's attractions included torpedoes and a Russian dance troupe that performed folk dances, the agency says.

But the company that operated the park, Minsk World Industries Co. Ltd., sank deep into the red and was declared bankrupt by a Shenzhen court in March last year, the Beijing News reported.

Damn and I had my whole vacation planned around going there. Sounds just like a perfect idea for an amusement park.

Posted: 2/17/2006 5:51:11 PM EDT

[#2]

The Chinese have one of the Kievs which got converted into a Casino as well.

They also have Varyag, which was supposed to become another Casino, but they're probably going to put it to military purpose, same as HMAS Melbourne, the Aussie carrier they bought in 1985.

NTM

Posted: 2/17/2006 7:00:54 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
The Chinese have one of the Kievs which got converted into a Casino as well.

They also have Varyag, which was supposed to become another Casino, but they're probably going to put it to military purpose, same as HMAS Melbourne, the Aussie carrier they bought in 1985.

NTM

My understanding was that the HMAS Melbourne was cut up into scrap, though its design was studied.

Posted: 2/17/2006 11:03:09 PM EDT

[#4]

Apparently they bought it for scrap, then decided to use it for pilot familiarisation for a bit as well. Don't ask me how it works, but apparently they used the flight deck to train pilots in the fundamentals of carrier landings at one of their bases. How they got an entire flight deck off the ship w/ catapults and arrestor gear is completely beyond me.

NTM

Posted: 2/17/2006 11:18:12 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Apparently they bought it for scrap, then decided to use it for pilot familiarisation for a bit as well. Don't ask me how it works, but apparently they used the flight deck to train pilots in the fundamentals of carrier landings at one of their bases. How they got an entire flight deck off the ship w/ catapults and arrestor gear is completely beyond me.

NTM

I suppose they just took it apart and rebuilt it in place. Just about every Navy/USMC air station has arrestor gear. It's not unusual to see aircraft making parctice traps at a land base. Cats could be built in place as well.

Posted: 2/18/2006 9:03:58 AM EDT

[#6]

The Minsk, a decades-old, decommissioned relic of the Soviet era,....sank deep into the red....

Soviet, red!!

Posted: 2/18/2006 9:08:18 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Apparently they bought it for scrap, then decided to use it for pilot familiarisation for a bit as well. Don't ask me how it works, but apparently they used the flight deck to train pilots in the fundamentals of carrier landings at one of their bases. How they got an entire flight deck off the ship w/ catapults and arrestor gear is completely beyond me.

NTM

I suppose they just took it apart and rebuilt it in place. Just about every Navy/USMC air station has arrestor gear. It's not unusual to see aircraft making parctice traps at a land base. Cats could be built in place as well.

Yep, and I believe there is a land-based catapult system in the works, for our forces. Or maybe it got cancelled.

Posted: 2/18/2006 9:25:00 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Apparently they bought it for scrap, then decided to use it for pilot familiarisation for a bit as well. Don't ask me how it works, but apparently they used the flight deck to train pilots in the fundamentals of carrier landings at one of their bases. How they got an entire flight deck off the ship w/ catapults and arrestor gear is completely beyond me.

NTM

I suppose they just took it apart and rebuilt it in place. Just about every Navy/USMC air station has arrestor gear. It's not unusual to see aircraft making parctice traps at a land base. Cats could be built in place as well.

NAS Patuxent River has a simulated flight deck built into a runway.
It includes a TC-7 steam catapult and a MK-7 arresting gear.
They are going to be building a ski-ramp for F-35 tests.

Posted: 2/18/2006 10:42:22 AM EDT

[#9]

The difference though is that the US already has catapult technology, and was able to incorporate it into the construction of the field. I'm interpreting what I'm reading about Melbourne as saying that they retro-fitted the catapults into a field by physically transplanting the things.

NTM

Posted: 2/18/2006 10:56:38 AM EDT

[#10]

The Minsk, a decades-old, decommissioned relic of the Soviet era...

I can't tell you how many times I sank that SOB in Harpoon II. A volley of HARMs to take out her fire-control systems, a volley of harpoons to cripple her fight operations, and two Mk48s amidship to finish her off.

Goddamn, I loved that game.

Posted: 2/18/2006 10:58:44 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:

The Minsk, a decades-old, decommissioned relic of the Soviet era...

I can't tell you how many times I sank that SOB in Harpoon II. A volley of HARMs to take out her fire-control systems, a volley of harpoons to cripple her fight operations, and two Mk48s amidship to finish her off.

Goddamn, I loved that game.

Red Storm Rising, too!

Posted: 2/18/2006 12:07:24 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Quoted:

I can't tell you how many times I sank that SOB in Harpoon II. A volley of HARMs to take out her fire-control systems, a volley of harpoons to cripple her fight operations, and two Mk48s amidship to finish her off.

Goddamn, I loved that game.

hr

Both were great games, to bad they dont make any games like that anymore

Posted: 2/18/2006 12:43:12 PM EDT

[#13]

So... Anybody wanna raise the cash to purchase the new S.S. ARFCOM?

Group buy on a carrier!

Posted: 2/18/2006 2:04:08 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
I can't tell you how many times I sank that SOB in Harpoon II. A

One day, I'm going to have to get my act together and take a serious look at Harpoon III. It apparently has multiplayer ability.

NTM

Posted: 2/18/2006 3:01:43 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
One day, I'm going to have to get my act together and take a serious look at Harpoon III. It apparently has multiplayer ability.

Wow. Looks like they upgraded Harpoon II with Harpoon Classic's AI: Harpoon 3

Posted: 2/18/2006 3:07:08 PM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
So... Anybody wanna raise the cash to purchase the new S.S. ARFCOM?

Group buy on a carrier!

Hmmmm, a 250 meter indoor range....

Posted: 2/18/2006 3:16:01 PM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:

The Minsk, a decades-old, decommissioned relic of the Soviet era...

I can't tell you how many times I sank that SOB in Harpoon II. A volley of HARMs to take out her fire-control systems, a volley of harpoons to cripple her fight operations, and two Mk48s amidship to finish her off.

Goddamn, I loved that game.

Me too.

I aced the weapons and tactics portion of my Surface Warfare qualifications based on playing that game! I knew every weapon, it's range, speed, and platform that could carry it plus I knew more about the threat platforms that the board members that were testing me. Three hours of questions asked by two officers and two Chief Petty Officers on every aspect of the warship ... now that was fun!

Posted: 2/19/2006 6:07:31 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
I aced the weapons and tactics portion of my Surface Warfare qualifications based on playing that game! I knew every weapon, it's range, speed, and platform that could carry it plus I knew more about the threat platforms that the board members that were testing me.

Awesome! Certainly sounds as if it was a better way to study than pouring over library copies of Janes.

Posted: 2/19/2006 6:24:12 AM EDT

[#19]

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Soviet-era carrier goes under the hammer and sickle

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