The Real Truth About the Russian Carrier Kuznetsov

The complicated and mishap-prone history of Russia's only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov.

And as an audiobook here:

[dragonstormdipro]

Greetings from India. We operate INS Vikramaditya and boy it’s history was also painful. It was named Baku /Admiral Gorshkov when we bought it, and immediately found that it had glaring problems. First of all, it could not take power from land based facilities. It only operated in DC. Multiple AC convertors had to be placed, and then we found out the wiring wasn’t able to handle that. The insulation would melt and create fire hazard. So almost 2500 km of wiring, and 3000kms of pipe needed to be changed. It also lacked centralized fire suppression systems, and even adequate lighting. The engine-fire was so much issue that the engine is coated in Asbestos foils, making guys working there wear PPE. It's a mess and we will discard it as soon as we get a new carrier.

[pavelthefabulous]

I toured the USS Missouri and learned that they used bunker oil as fuel for a period of time, but they had a technique to hide the smoke (making it translucent) by adjusting air and fuel intake in the boiler. They usually made some junior seaman or a Navy cadet watch the smoke for its visibility.

This was 1940's US technology.

[spankflaps]

My grandad was Chief Engineer on Oil Tankers in WW2, sailing all over the world. He had to run the engines without making smoke from the funnel, or they would get spotted and torpedoed.
Whenever he saw war films with ships making smoke, he would go nuts!

[pixiesmate]

I was a stoker in the 1970s on a Royal Navy Tiger class cruiser, we burned heavy fuel oil in our boilers. It had to be preheated prior to burning to enable it to be atomised sufficiently to burn without creating black smoke. To start the boilers from cold was a long procedure, initially firing up with diesel until there was sufficient heat to run the oil heaters.

[vvtz]

Some time ago, I've read some anecdotal stories of a Russian serviceman who claimed he used to serve on this piece of ship. He mentioned how understaffed the ship was and how half of the ship's decks/rooms were literally abandoned and never visited by the crew, so it was very easy to get "lost" occasionally: whenever he felt like skipping some duties he would venture into abandoned corridors and decks and spend some time sleeping without anyone knowing where he was. Another hilarious story of his was about how during refueling in a port the refueling team managed to confuse the fuel tank lids with the crewed deck doors. They poured hundreds of tons of mazut into crewed decks, flooding many rooms and burying equipment under sticky greasy black liquid.

[moritztresselt]

Featuring the renowned Soviet Admiral Wardimir Carollnikiov

[tululublue]

This is how informational videos should be done. Clean editing and straight-forward, no fluff information. Well done.

[llynellyn]

Great video, just a note though, one of the reasons the carriers black smoke has become so over the top in recent decades is because prior to knocking two dry docks together and building one for it the other year Russia didn't have a single dock capable of servicing the ship (and Ukraine weren't about to let them bring it back for repairs). This means the ship has never been able to receive power/etc from a dock and has had to run entirely on it's own systems even when at port. As a result even though the ship was only commissioned 22 years ago it's boilers/etc are well past their intended lifespan, having already seen the equivalent of 30-40 years of use.

[every]

These stories are so important - coming from people right in the middle of it. Official military histories tend to be very dry, sanitized 'officially approved' affairs. So it's great to hear the behind the scenes stories of what actually went on.
Also - this Aussie was lucky enough to go on board the USS Ranger in 1991 when it docked in Fremantle, Western Australia. Back then, the public was still allowed on board when these monster ships visited. I think there was more air power on the deck of that one ship than the entire Australian Air Force! Mighty impressed and grateful.

[zbeen-ah-lah]

When you mentioned the whole “if a ship is renamed it’s a curse” then how the ship had a bunch of problems, I immediately said to myself, “No wonder the Kuzy is cursed!”

[steveliebig]

Damn, I thought my old 64 Chevy Impala smoked bad back in High School but this takes the cake!

[balaton]

As a former us Navy surface guy, I am delighted to see that Russia still is a global Navy paper tiger.
So many years after WW2, the world still cannot replicate what Nimitz and the boys did to keep ships supplied and on mission.
The USN 2 ocean war is a wonder of the modern world to me.
Yes I'm biased. I may have served but every night I sleep under the blanket of security I have been provided by those before me. I am a grateful man. Blessings to you all!

[sonar]

Back in the early 90's, some Russian (ex-Soviet) ships visited San Diego as a 'goodwill tour'. My dad (a former Board of INSURV officer) and a few others went aboard for guided tours and were instructed to take 'mental notes' of the weapons and other systems. Afterwards, my dad remarked "I doubt those weapons could even fire." From a distance the ships 'looked' great, but up close they could see painted over rust, painted over mechanisms for weapons hatches (also rusted) and other glaring signs that the ships were POS's. And this was only like 2-3 years after the fall of the USSR. And, from the sound of things, the Ruskies haven't improved much.

[inchSamsungTV]

Imagine having a brand new carrier and not even being able to compare it to a carrier that is about to retire. That story he told is crazy.

[SeahawkSailor]

I was aboard USS Monterey for the combined operations with USS American and the Kuznetsov. Got to land our SH-60B aboard Kuznetsov, and brought some of them to USS Monterey for tour & chow. At that point, we all thought we had gotten past any significant chance of a war with them. Yet where we are today. 😢

[DragonWarrior]

Was deployed on a ship chasing this thing around. It's engines would fail all the time. There was a saying on the smoke deck. "If you lose track of the carrier just look in a circle" you may not have been able to see it specifically but you sure as hell could see the black cloud.

[patgiblinsongs]

Just when we in the US think our military-industrial complex has issues, here comes Russia for a bit of comic relief! Thank you, Ward!

[christof_]

Ward, these researched and pre-written pieces are SO educational. I love that they are a-political. For a non-service member, your channel is still one of my favorites because it is a fascinating window into the military and military industry. Thank you so much for your effort, you are positively impacting lots of young peoples lives by raising awareness of career trajectories and national pride, who wouldn't otherwise have access to such content.

[winstonstone]

Ward I remember seeing these tragic fires and damage on the nightly news. However the losses either didn't register or didn't have impact at the time. Seeing this now it first reminded me of the losses my dad saw in his time with 8th USSAF in the UK. The loss was horrific to the US Navy. As teenager it didn't hit home now on my 74th Birthday today Oct. 6th, it hit hard at all these young sailors lost. Thank you for this video may the all be resting peace.

[keesvanwesterop]

I am simple human, i see kunetzov, i laugh.