A Russian warship under construction at a shipyard in St. Petersburg caught fire Friday.
The Provorny corvette being built at the Severnaya Verf (Northern Shipyard) was completely engulfed
by flames, and nearly 170 firefighters were taking part in efforts to extinguish the blaze
that sent massive plumes of smoke over Russia’s second-largest city.
Local authorities said three workers were injured, with two of them requiring hospitalization.
The corvette is the latest in a series of such ships built at the shipyard.
It was set to be commissioned by the Navy late next year.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why the fire incident in the Provorny Gremyashchiy
class warship is a massive loss to the Russian Navy?
Let's get into the details.
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Avia.pro has provided some information regarding this scale of the fire and here is the excerpt:
"The Russian corvette "Provorny", which caught fire the night before, was seriously damaged.
According to information available to the news agency Avia.pro, the fire was located
in the superstructure in which the wheelhouse is located, after which the fire spread to
the 4th and 5th decks.
As a result of a powerful fire, the structure of the frigate under construction was damaged
on an area of more than 1000 square meters.
It is known that the initial combustion center was about 80 square meters, however, in less
than an hour, the area of fire increased to 300 square meters, and after some time up
to 1000 square meters.
It was possible to localize the spread of fire, however, according to information at
6 o'clock in the morning, it was still not possible to extinguish the fire onboard the
"Provorny" corvette.
At the moment it is known that the structure of the corvette was damaged by the strongest
fire.
This will require extensive renovation if the latter is even worthwhile."
Provorny is the second vehicle of the Gremyashchiy class.
Gremyashchiy class, Russian designation Project 20385, is an update of the Steregushchiy-class
corvettes of the Russian Navy.
Gremyashchiy-class corvettes are very large multipurpose vessels, designed to complement
the Steregushchiy class already being commissioned with the Russian Navy.
They have been designed to have improved habitability for higher endurance missions and can launch
cruise missiles.
This follow-on project was designed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau in Saint
Petersburg.
The first ship was laid down on 26 May 2011 and the official laying down ceremony took
place on 1 February 2012.
Vessels of this class have a displacement of 2,500 tons.
Although classified as corvettes by the Russian Navy, these ships carry sensors and weapon
systems akin to frigates and, as a result, are so classified by NATO.
The lead vessel of the class, Gremyashchiy, went on sea trials in late April 2019.
Project 20385 differs from its predecessor by greater dimensions and displacement.
They have a steel hull and composite superstructure, with a bulbous bow and nine watertight subdivisions.
Compared with the Soobrazitelny, Boikiy, Sovershennyy and Stoikiy class ships, which are fitted
with Redut air defense VLS system of 12 launchers on the bow, these new ships are equipped with
a UKSK VLS system comprising eight launchers for either Kalibr, Oniks or Zircon anti-ship/cruise
missiles.
The Redut VLS system with 16 launchers has been placed on the stern.
Another difference is the lack of the aft mast above the helicopter hangar and single
integrated mainmast that no longer includes separate open shelves for artillery and navigation
radars.
On 31 October 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Gremyashchiy will be equipped
with the hypersonic 3M22 Zircon anti-ship cruise missiles.
This is not the first time such an incident has happened and even the Russian Navy flagship
and only aircraft carrier have faced similar issues.
On 30 Oct 2018, the PD-50 floating dock on which Kuznetsov was docked for repairs and
refits started to take in water and led to the tilting of the dock on one side.
Somehow PD-50 did not capsize and as the water filled the dock, Kuznetsov floated and was
tugged out.
In about 4 hours, PD 50 which is capable of handling vessels up to 80,000 tons, is the
biggest one Russia has and one of the largest in the world, went down and sank.
This incident caused a lot of damage to Kuznetsov but this was not the end.
In December 2019, a major fire broke out on board Admiral Kuznetsov as work continued
on the ship's refit.
The fire on the Admiral Kuznetsov broke out during welding work at a shipyard in the Arctic
port of Murmansk and spread quickly through the carrier’s internal compartments.
As per reports, the warship may not be operational again.
Provorny would have been an excellent surface combatant especially when armed with Zircon
hypersonic missiles.
As per reports, the construction of the ship was actually completed and the fire at this
stage is very unfortunate.
There are speculations that after such a powerful fire, its restoration will be impossible.
The estimated cost of the "Provorny" corvette can range from 20 to 30 billion rubles - its
construction took 8 years.
Russia is already having funding problem and a loss like this couldn't have come at a worse
time.
While the Russian military under President Putin has been embarking on the path of modernization,
it is handicapped because of the limited budget which is creating issues.
It remains to be seen how things are handled, going forward.