Soviet Carrier Minsk – Burnt Out in China

Few ships have had such an unfortunate second life as the aircraft carrier Minsk. Once the pride of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, this ship was a victim of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Russian Navy discarded her, which would probably have meant scrapping.

Instead, Minsk would end up China as a theme park. Where the ship has...not been treated well, to say the least. If she lasts past this year, I'll be amazed.

And that's a sad end for what was, really, an interesting ship. From her design to some aspects of her service life. We'll go over that, in today's video.

Further Reading:

[gordoncavanagh]

In December 1982 I was a sonar tech in the navy when I got a transfer to the USS Harry W. Hill DD 986, a Spruance class. When I finally caught up with the Hill in the Indian Ocean via the USS White Plains and a Helo ride, they had been following the Minsk for some time and we continued to do so for a few more weeks. I remember one "holiday routine" Sunday when we were following right behind the Minsk, our captain rationed everyone two cans of Budweiser because of our consecutive number of days at sea. So we are in civilian shorts on the flight flight deck with the mess cooks grilling burgers and we're laying out drinking beer. The Minsk was conducting flight ops so when the yaks were landing they flew right over our head as we cheered them on with our Budweisers. They were close enough that we could see their helmets looking at us as they flew over.

So in your video at the 6:47 mark you have a picture of the Minsk with what looks to be a Spruance class in the background. Do you know when/where that picture was taken? I'm wondering if that was videos btw. Lots of good info.

[mfrsr]

it's great to see an in-depth look at a cold war era ship that isn't often covered by other channels. thanks very much ❤

[Hey_MikeZeroEchoP]

I have a model, in 1/700 scale, of Both Kiev and

Your footage gives me some Good detail of Minsk, Thanks for the posting!!!

[paulholmes]

Ah, Nostalgic moment. The two F-15's and RF-4C overflying the ship are/were from the 18th Wing, Kadena AB, Okinawa, two of the types I was responsible for at that time, as 5th AF Avionics Logistics Manager stationed at Yokota AB, Japan from August 1985 to November 1988.

[Horatiobuild]

This is really fascinating. During the last part of my dad’s navy carrier he was promoted to Captain we had to leave Atsugi naval air in Japan where I lived as a kid and really loved that place and go to DC/ pentagon area. He was part of a weapons analysis group that reported directly to assistant secretary of defense and chief of staff of the White House in the 1970s. I remember having so many great conversations with my dad about Soviet era weapons systems …before he passed away at age 97, you know theirs vs ours .He constantly was flying to any place where they could get real world examples of “ ours vs theirs “ Vietnam along the DMZ in early 70s, Israel, south and Central America. In some ways it was like comparing apples to oranges though. I sure as hell would not want to be in any branch of the Soviet military operating that hardware with almost no budget. But my dad did point out how deadly effective a committed enemy force like in north Vietnam with AKs RPGs and SAMs of various types could be. But those Cold War era Soviet ships and some of the subs just seemed like a death trap to me.

[bradgillingham]

very interesting report. I truly like your series of vids!

[anantr]

Regarding the RBU-6000s, the ships did have those. You can see them along the bow in pictures.

[martinwilkinson]

This ship is prominently featured in the 1987 Soviet film 'Forgotten Tune for the Flute' at the 55 minute, 18 second time stamp. It's on YouTube

[Navyrifleshooter]

I was in Vladivostok in 1990 and took a photo of the Minsk that looks just like the one in the video. Everything is the same except one small boat thats not in mine. Id bet the person that took that photo was with me when I was there.

[petershen]

I think the hull of former Minsk would likely be purchased by the PLA Navy and used as an exercise target.

[jimtaylor]

Would be interesting if bits of the ship get sold onto museums, such as one of the deck launch tubes 🤔

If the ship herself can't be saved, then at least parts of her should.

[brianpreval]

The Yak had 2 engines - one for lift and one for normal flight, that made them way too heavy, consequently couldn't carry much and they were also unreliable!

[Rebel]

I remember seeing video of that carrier on fire last year.

[joemccarthy]

The most powerful weapon in a Soviet carrier group was whatever American submarine was following it around

[MB-nnjw]

About 18% loss rate for the YAK VTOLs. Nearly 1 in 5.

[em]

The carrier was renamed the chow mein combo A, with beef broccoli, and was christened by general tso.

[leaveme]

It was a mistake to buy ins Vikramaditya.

We were successful in building our own ins vikrant we could have built another.

Right now the dockyards are empty and no new carriers are being built the knowledge and the experience to build these ships will be gone within a decade.

[Mthammere]

Sry to hear that... Sounds like arson to me... Minsk was a major victim of thr Covid-19 pandemic. Hope something can be done; looked like one of the better international military museums in the world; they even had some Migs in the hanger.

[_lika_dedicated_]

как жаль что он сгорел только в том году смотрел про него ролики он был целый

[brianjones]

thank you for reading it yourself sir.
I loathe AI compuVoices.
Thanks again!