The
Russian Defense Ministry will have the unique Alagez rescue vessel upgraded
in 2016. The Alagez barely escaped scrapping in the 1990s, according
to the Gazeta.ru news portal. The Project 537 Osminog-class Alagez rescue
vessel was built for the Soviet Navy in the Ukrainian city of Nikolayev.
The vessel was designed to rescue the crews of ships in distress, search
for and rescue sunken submarines, and conduct deep-water tests and other
important missions. |
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The
vessel was laid down on November 29, 1979 and inducted into the Soviet
Navy almost 10 years later. The Black Sea Fleet had operated her since
January 1989 before her transfer to the Pacific Fleet in September 1993.
In the 1990s, the Alagez was planned to be written off and scrapped.
The Kursk submarine’s disaster in August 2000 was a reason for
rebuilding the Alagez, which disassembly had begun by then. Her operational
capability had been restored by 2010.
In accordance with the Defense Ministry’s request, the upgrade
and current repair of the Alagez’s submarine search and rescue
(SAR) equipment is to take place in 2016. The ministry is planning to
set aside 23.674 million rubles ($358,000) for her upgrade.
The repair and upgrade will be conducted near Vladivostok, with the
modernized ship to be delivered prior to November 25, 2016. The delivery
date complies with the annual defense procurement program’s traditional
completion date.
According to the governmental acquisition website, May 5 was the deadline
for bidding in the tender for the vessel’s repair and upgrade.
By tradition, the Dalzavod Shipyard in Vladivostok has repaired and
maintained the Pacific Fleet’s ships and vessels in the Primorsky
Territory. Hence, the competition is pro forma.
Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that the bidding documentation stresses
that the contractor must not be linked with Turkey, i.e. not to be under
the jurisdiction of Turkey or controlled by Turkish nationals.
"The work is aimed at expanding the functionality of the SAR equipment
of the Alagez rescue vessel by means of upgrade," the Defense Ministry
specifies in its request.
In particular, the vessel is to be fitted out with advanced underwater,
diving bell and pressure chamber lighting systems and her line communications
are to be modified to correct the Donald Duck effect (the high-pitched
voices of divers breathing a helium-oxygen mixture). The vessel also
will be furnished with advanced medical monitoring systems, video cameras
and video recorders - in all, 11 full-color cameras, three video recorders
and three visual displays.
The underwater lighting devices are to provide visibility out to 3 m
at the least with a Secchi disk of at least 10 m, according to Gazeta.ru.
Early in 2016, the Alagez was reported to be docked at Dalzavod, where
it was provided with the cutting-edge Bester-1 deep-water submersible
to be used on SAR operations until the latest rescue vessel, the Igor
Belousov, arrived at the Pacific Fleet. The Igor Belousov is slated
for starting her cruise to the Pacific in late May or early June.
The Bester-1 can dive to 700 m. She features advanced controls and highly
precise positioning and motion when submerged. The bathyscaphe carries
an advanced guidance and attachment system for attaching to the hull
of a submarine in distress, as well as a sophisticated docking chamber
fit for escaping the submarine listing 45°.
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