How warships are built. Sailing shipbuilding technology

1. A little history, it’s impossible without it, because the place is historical:
“The tsarist government paid great attention to the development of private shipbuilding factories and shipyards. In 1856, the Baltic Shipbuilding and Mechanical Plant was founded, created with the participation of English capital. The plant carried out a variety of private and government orders. However, for almost twenty years it eked out a miserable existence, and in 1871 the owners informed the Maritime Department that they intended to close the enterprise “due to financial collapse.” All property of the plant was purchased by the resulting Joint Stock Company for 812 thousand rubles.
In 1877, the enterprise underwent a new reorganization. The share capital was increased, mainly due to the attraction of public funds, and the plant's activity somewhat revived. By 1884, the production employed 1,200 workers, but ships still took a very long time to build, and were therefore expensive. The Maritime Department had to again pay serious attention to this plant, acquire 84% of all shares of the company, after which the plant actually became a state-owned enterprise. The liquidation commission worked for ten years.

With the transfer to the treasury, the Baltic Plant began to work somewhat better, which can be judged at least by the following indicators:

List of ships and vessels built at the Baltic Shipyard (1856-2016)

2. Factory tour It started with safety precautions, it was immediately clear that we had come to production, where it was impossible without it. We visited almost all production processes (metal straightening, cleaning and priming, cutting, welding parts into large-block elements, painting, assembly on a slipway) with the exception of metal cleaning and priming.

01. The metal from which the ship will be made; in total, about a dozen grades of steel are used.

02. The straightened metal is moved to the next stage of the production process.

03. Normal thickness ~20 mm.

04. A whole workshop of already straightened metal.

05. Went for shot cleaning and priming.

06. Konstantin Semyonovich Khanukhov adjusts the microphone - our guide, it’s not so easy to find, knows everything and everyone. A huge experience of more than 30 years, dating back to the times when design and construction were carried out without the help of computers. He worked on the slipway for 20 years.
In the center, Alina, a sign language interpreter, told why such a profession was in demand. After all, many people with disabilities work at the plant.

07. Workpiece ready for welding.

08. A whole workshop of workpieces ready for welding.

09. This is a different workshop and blanks welded together.

10. Apparatus for automatic welding of parts to each other.

11. These are the next parts that will be welded.

12. There was another guide in this workshop, unfortunately I didn’t remember the name :(

13. The welding seam during automatic welding is obtained for the entire thickness of the metal being welded.

14. Parts welded together.

15. Safety first!

16. Another apparatus for automatically welding workpieces at an angle to each other.

17. Larger view.

18. Another automatic welding machine.

19. Parts welded together.

20. Manual welding, the welding seam is no worse.

22. Not everyone can get a car; they don’t get it everywhere.

23. A ship element ready for painting.

24. An almost finished element, now in an inverted state.

25. The scale of the workshops is suitable for any ship.

26. Appropriate lifting equipment.

27. Judging by the size of the elements for subsequent assembly on the slipway, it is clear that this is not a small boat being built.

28. Welding seams again.

29. Lots of welds.

30. The most difficult part is the curved surfaces of the ship, which are made by hand on a special template.

31. To prevent the metal from being deformed during welding, auxiliary stiffeners are welded to it, which are then cut off.

32. View of the curved element from the other side.

33. Drawings are the key to success.

34. Welding a screw.

35. Painting the finished element.

36. We leave the workshop, we can see the slipway where the installation of elements manufactured in the workshops will be carried out.

37. Alexey Burmistrov is a ship builder who dreams of becoming a chief ship builder, good luck to him in this.

38. People at the plant are positive, Baltic people. Transport throughout the territory is carried out on rails.

39. And trackless.

40. You can immediately understand that the plant is more than 100 years old, the architecture is appropriate.

41. Red brick buildings.

42. Such buildings are no longer built.

43. Here is another old building and the year of construction is indicated. This is a currently operating machining shop.

44. Commemorative plaque.

45. And one more. Glory to the Baltics!

46. ​​View of the building from a different angle.

47. Screw.

48. The part into which the shaft will be installed, but this is just an assumption.

49. Another screw.

50. Spiral staircase.

51. She is beauty.

52. Time requires energy, efficiency, and initiative from everyone. You can't argue with that.

53. Brown machine.

54. New machine

55. Riveted metal trusses.

56. They are also over 100 years old.

57. Riveted metal columns.

58. Sergey, a 6th grade shaft turner, told how to turn a shaft and never make a mistake. The cost of an error (shaft blanks) is 1 million euros. It's simple - experience, the desire to improve your skills, your character and mind give results. Bloggers listen with interest.

59. Special tool for precise measurement (control) of shaft diameter.

60. Turn on the machine and the shaft begins to rotate.

61. After a couple of months, when about 70% of the original weight remains of the workpiece, the shaft will be ready. The icebreaker Arktika requires three shafts.

62. It’s impossible to be at a shipbuilding plant and not visit the slipway. The icebreaker "Arktika" Murmansk is on the slipway.

63. A ship on a slipway is very similar to a house in scaffolding, and so is the work; they build in any weather.

64. Welding and on the slipway.

65. The people I met were extremely positive.

66. Ship's engineering communications.

67. There is little space inside the ship, and it needs to be used rationally, so communications are laid along the optimal trajectory and curved accordingly.

68. Why do they need Vaseline, but it turns out they need it too.

69. You need to use Vaseline together with a pump, this device for lowering a ship.

It was very interesting, I saw a lot of new things. How many times have you not seen what is happening inside the ship on the slipway, how the descent is taking place.
I was also pleased with the positive attitude of the plant team, it’s nice to see such people, their eyes light up and business is moving forward.

Thanks for organizing the excursion:

At the same time, the body begins to grow upward. Bulkheads and side sections are welded to the flooring of the bottom sections, and they are covered with deck sections on top. So the gigantic building grows every day. It grows lengthwise, breadth and height, like a house, being built floor by floor.

Finally, an important moment in the construction of the steamship comes - loading the main mechanisms and boilers. The mechanisms - turbines - are loaded completely ready and tested. The boilers are loaded in the same readiness: sheathed in a light steel casing, with all valves, taps and instruments.

But they soared up and found themselves on the ship with huge electric motors. This means that we have a turbo-electric vehicle in front of us.

After loading the mechanisms, installation work begins completely. Installation of chimneys and pipes begins. By the end of construction, thousands of workers were working on the slipway in the compartments of a large steamship. The work does not stop either day or night. Electric welding flashes blind the eyes indoors. These are shipbuilders finishing minor work on the hull. Shipbuilders make final checks on the installation of engines and shafting. Electricians install electrical cables along their routes and connect them to current consumers. It's not an easy job. For example, on the nuclear icebreaker we are building, electricians had to install more than half a thousand electric motors and stretch about 300 kilometers of cables!..

Painters are finishing the thermal insulation of the building and painting the premises. Carpenters assemble furniture piece by piece and attach it to its place.

The upper deck of the ship is also crowded. Here the installation of anchor, boat, cargo and other devices is completed. And on the captain's bridge, workers at instrument-making factories are busy installing and adjusting navigation and communications instruments. What kind of blue-collar professions you won’t find on a ship under construction! And all the workers think about only one thing: how to quickly and better prepare the ship for going to sea.

The launch of a steamship is a big event in the life of a shipyard. On the one hand, it is a joyful holiday of workers and employees. On the other hand, this means that the ship is almost completely ready for sailing. They begin to prepare for the descent three to four weeks in advance. Carpenters are mainly involved in the preparation. First of all, they construct a launching sled from the beams. On them the steamer will descend along the wooden paths of the slipway into the water. It will go down like a sled sliding down a snowy mountain. To do this, the surface of the paths is thickly greased. Previously, tons of expensive lamb and beef lard were spent on fatting. Now they make do with a cheaper mixture of paraffin and mineral oil.

The carpenters still need to make special devices in order to delay the steamer, which is placed on the skids, until everything is ready for launching. These are thrust arrows, hydraulic triggers and a bow stopper. Thrust booms are placed in pairs at the bow and stern of the steamer on each side. The thrust boom is a short wooden beam. One end rests against the slipway, and the other against the runner.

Hydraulic triggers are placed in the middle part of the sled - one on each side. The trigger holds the skid until the piston of the water cylinder presses on it. Water is supplied to the cylinder. If the water stops pressing on the piston, it will not press the trigger and it will release the skid.

The bow stopper is several circles of hemp rope connecting the end of each runner to a bush of logs. If it is necessary to hand over the detainees, they are instantly cut down with a sharp ax. Often, instead of rope stoppers, stoppers made of steel strips are installed. Then such detainees are cut with gas cutters.

Launching a steamship is an operation that is thought out in every detail. Each participant in the descent is assigned a specific place and responsibilities according to the schedule.

This is how the turbo-electric ship Rodina was launched.

In the morning, joyful revival reigned in all workshops of the plant. On this day, all the worries and troubles that the shipbuilders had while they were constructing the electric ship on the slipway were left behind. Thousands of people hurried to the slipway, where the electric ship towered like a multi-story giant, glistening in the sun with fresh paint and polished propellers. It is festively decorated with garlands of flags. The people who filled the areas near the slipway are also in a festive mood. Among them are those who designed the ship, those who built it, and numerous guests. Everyone tries to take the most comfortable place in order to properly see all the details of this interesting spectacle. The descent participants also took their places. The day before

They had what is called a dress rehearsal in the theater.

Some of them boarded the electric ship. These people also have responsible work ahead of them. Some of them must, after descent, inspect all the bottom compartments and make sure that there are no leaks in the hull. Others are to drop the anchor, free the ship from the launching skids and take it to the embankment of the plant.

Every minute brings us closer to the solemn moment of descent. The director of the plant and the commander of the descent are going up to a specially equipped platform. The ladders that connected the ship to the scaffolding have already been handed over. The first command comes from the loudspeakers: “Launch keel blocks out!” Wooden beams fall to the ground and are immediately pulled aside. One of the builders slowly passes under the bottom of the electric ship. He must ensure that nothing obstructs the descent. The results of the inspection are reported to the commander. He can now report to the plant director about the readiness of the vessel for launching. In the ensuing silence, his words are clearly heard: “Comrade Director!

The ship is ready to launch! All workers are placed in their places. Please allow the launch of the new vessel!”

Good! - is heard in response.

A new command comes from the loudspeakers: “Nose arrows out!” And after it the next one: “The stern arrows are out!” Both commands are executed accurately and quickly. The command is also executed: “Give up the triggers!” Now only the bow stoppers hold the ship on the slipway.

Finally, the last command is heard: “Cut the nose guards!” Now nothing holds the electric ship. For a moment the ship seemed to freeze in thought. Each of the spectators had an alarming thought: “Will this colossus go down?” It also happened that the ship, freed from all arresting devices, remained in place. The culprit may be a bad lubricant. It is also possible that sand or a piece of metal accidentally gets under the runner. This time the spectators' fears were in vain. Joyful cries sounded over the silent slipway: “I’m moving!” Let's go!"

Indeed, the electric ship slowly set off. Loud "hurray!" drowned out the majestic sounds of the Soviet anthem. A rocket soared into the sky, announcing the birth of another vessel of the USSR navy. Sliding through the greasy

paths, the ship picked up speed more and more. Here it crashed with its stern into the water, throwing up a huge cascade of splashes. The first voyage of the electric ship began. So far it is very short - no more than five hundred meters. The anchors flew into the water with a roar, and the electric ship stopped dead in its tracks. Two black and wide-sided tugboats jumped up to him and dragged the newborn giant to the completion site.

The ship crashed stern into the water.

Completion now does not take long - a few months. Here they carry out work that, for one reason or another, cannot be done on the slipway, for example, installing masts with booms and equipment - rigging. During the completion of construction, the finishing and equipment of the premises are also completed. Testing of mechanisms, devices and the entire vessel as a whole begins. And this work is very difficult and responsible.

Tests show whether the ship is really built as required by the project, and whether everything is in order. And only when all the tests are completed, all the defects discovered by the selection committee are eliminated, the flag of the Soviet Union is raised on the electric ship.

This means that the ship has entered service. The electric ship moves under its own power to the port pier to take cargo and passengers on its maiden voyage. Let's go to the port and visit the built ship.

June 25th, 2013

Recently, as a representative of the community, I was able to visit the only shipbuilding plant in Moscow and see with my own eyes how the boats, yachts and river vessels that are so well known to all Muscovites and guests of the capital are made.

The plant has existed for a long time, it was founded in 1936, and over the years it has produced more than 1,800 ships. In the 90s, the enterprise, like many others, was in crisis and was under threat of closure, but little by little the situation at the plant improved, orders increased, and is now a successful manufacturer of diverse vessels, from boats for the Navy and river vessels to luxury yachts.

Let's take a look into the workshop and see with our own eyes how ships are born.

In the background you can see the scenery vessel in the final stages of construction.

In total there are three ships in different stages of construction.
This one is almost ready, soon we will visit inside this ship and see what its cabins look like.

And this ship has only just begun to be made.

Intermediate stage of construction.

Soviet slogans have not even faded over the decades. Maybe they've been updated a little?

And this detail is for one of the yachts that is being built on the street, we will see it later.

The next workshop also builds situational vessels; they are designed to place buoys on the water.
The ship's hull is cut from these sheets of special marine steel, which are also resistant to sea water.

Please note the different thicknesses of the steel sheets. The thinner steel is used for the production of ships that will sail in rivers with a temperate climate, the thicker steel is used for the lining of ships that will sail on Siberian rivers, so that they can break the ice that forms during the navigation period.

Again a furnishing vessel, in the final stages of construction. Next comes painting and installation of equipment, etc.

Pay attention to the spelling of the word "Moscow" on the workshop gate and on the welder's overalls).

On the rack there are small parts for different parts of the boat.

Here you can see three boats in different stages of construction. They are being built at the same time, just like those three furnishing vessels.
This one can be said to be in the initial stage.

And the third one is already covered with primer. By the way, boats are made not of steel, but almost entirely of aluminum, so that it weighs less, is lighter and faster.

At the factory, ship hulls are welded from start to finish; all the stuffing comes from other manufacturers, but is installed right there at the factory, everything right down to the furniture.

At this stage you can see that there are no screw holes in the case yet.

Now let’s go out into the fresh air and look around, look at the ships that are on the slips (I’ll explain what they are later), look into the boathouses (I’ll explain later) and see Putin’s ship.
But first you need to fulfill your promise and look inside the furnishing vessel.

This is what some of them are simply called. By the way, this vessel will be partially disassembled and sent to its customer by rail.

A little cramped, but quite comfortable for a small crew. And one more fact - on furnishing ships all conditions are made for living and overnight stays during work, but on Navy boats there are no such conditions, they are not intended for long voyages, only for servicing large military vessels.

To the right and left are separate cabins.

We go back out, there are mysterious ingots on the grass, does anyone know what they are?

Another river boat, also not for passengers, but river buses are also built at this plant.

Work was also going on under this polyethylene-covered canopy; I did not go inside.

Let's go to a place with the mysterious name "boathouse". No, this is not a place where elves live, this is a place where ships are moored, including during the winter. Yacht owners can leave their vessels here for the winter, albeit if they have a metal hull. Yachts with a plastic hull are lifted out of the water and stored in dry dock because ice can warp the hull.

The rest of the time the boathouse can be used as a simple dock. Now there is a ready-made furnishing vessel and a boat, the first three stages of construction of which we have already seen.

This is such a nice orange color.

Here the ships are brought to perfection, all components and assemblies are checked.

At the next dock there are two ready-made furnishing vessels.

It’s the same here - preparing ships for delivery to the customer.

Let's look back. I will tell you about the fate of this snow-white yacht later.

This luxurious yacht was built here, at the Moscow shipyard, especially for Vladimir Putin during his second presidential term. He did not use it for long, and later gave it to Valaam, more precisely, so that the ship would carry official delegations to the island.

Here the ship is undergoing maintenance.

These river vessels are also here for maintenance work.

The fate of these yachts is not yet clear. They were built to order several years ago, but at some stage the construction stopped: either the customer ran out of money, or he changed his mind, but since then these snow-white beauties have been standing in the waters of the river waiting for their new owners. By the way, all stages of construction until the abandonment of the yachts were paid for, this is how all vessels are built here - each stage of the construction of the vessel is paid for separately.

The yachts are covered with polyethylene so that the weather does not ruin the work of the shipbuilders. These yachts and similar ones are built using Dutch technologies and drawings. In the early 2000s, the plant management sent its specialists to Holland to improve their skills, where they adopted the experience that they now apply here.
If you want to order a similar yacht for yourself, get ready to shell out 20 million euros. Of course, not all yachts cost that much, only luxury ones.

At the pier there are rubber sausages on chains so that when mooring the vessel they do not hit the pier.

Another fact is that the length of all ships produced by the Moscow shipyard is limited to 47 meters, because the width of the river in the shipyard is only 50 meters. If the ship is longer, it will be physically impossible to launch it; it will simply get stuck. Vessels no longer than 47 meters are also accepted for repairs.

This yacht has the same fate as those two, but this one hasn't even reached the painting stage.

The white yacht in the distance is also mothballed. But I will tell you about the ship on the far right.

This is a river boat that many who have been to Moscow may have ridden on. It is currently undergoing renovation. The ship is probably decades old, but the owners of such ships (various shipping companies and private owners) prefer to repair the ship and use it until the very end instead of ordering a new one - it’s cheaper.

I'll tell you about these trolleys later.

There are two workshops in this building, each with ships being built.

The ship has a very interesting name. Probably the history of the ship is no less interesting.

Let's come closer and find out what the worker is doing.

Along these rails, special trolleys are lowered under the water so that the ship can stand on them. A ship on trolleys is pulled out of the water by a powerful mechanism, and this place where the ship stands is called a slipway.

From a distance it’s not clear what’s wrong with the bottom, let’s get closer.

Even closer, it turns out to be bivalves, but very small, the size of a fingernail. I didn’t know there were such things in the Moscow River.

The bottom is completely covered with them. Soon it will be cleared of water nomads, the most leaky places will be identified, and patches will be made in those places where there is a threat of holes forming, although first the problem area will be cut out. Despite the fact that the hull is made of marine steel and it does not last forever and gradually wears out, therefore the vessels need care and repair, which is provided by the plant.

Here you can repair both a ship built at this plant and any other.

The screws have been removed and part of the bottom has already been cleared of shellfish.

[:RU]Of course, all machine-building plants are similar in one way or another. Despite this, I am always interested in watching how individual pieces of metal and blanks are transformed into a finished product. This process is somehow fascinating. As you know, a person can endlessly look at fire, water and how another person works. And here we were talking about a plant I had never seen before, where they build huge cruise ships and oil platforms, that is, the pieces of metal promised to be thick, the blanks were large, and the finished products were very large-scale. There should also be a lot of people at work. But it’s precisely these kinds of reports that my Reader likes most? In general, we went to the shipyard in the Finnish city of Turku.

Although Moscow is called the port of 5 seas, it is still a river port, therefore it is very difficult to build large multi-deck ships in our area, and even more so with the factories where they are built. To see them you will have to travel 650 kilometers. When I first got on board the sea ferry, I was impressed by its size and how much everything could fit on it: an entire multi-storey residential complex, with shopping and entertainment centers, elevators, restaurants and parking! And with all this, he also walks on the sea! As a lover of technology, I was terribly interested in how it works, how it is controlled and, most importantly, how such huge things are built. We were practically allowed to get through the door marked “crew only” on an active ship, but we were a little behind on time. Next time. But we saw where and how large ships are built.

To be honest, it was this shipyard that became the first object of interest that I planned to visit, long before the trip route was invented. At that time, they were building an innovative sea ferry, in some respects, Viking Grace for the Viking Line company, which interested me then (this is the first sea ferry with a liquefied gas power plant). But our trip was postponed, and when we left, this boat had already been completed and was plowing the Baltic. Nevertheless, I still really wanted to see the shipyard. After all, it is one of the oldest and largest in Europe, and the largest ships are built there too. In addition to cruise ships, icebreakers, ships for various purposes, oil platforms and offshore wind power plants are also built there.
By the way, official excursions are sometimes organized to this shipyard, but they are only possible for groups by appointment and very rarely. They are held by the Maritime Museum Forum Marinum in Turku.
We had absolutely no opportunity to wait for such an excursion, and you yourself know what these official excursions and press tours are: a crowd of excursionists, urged on by a guide, moves along a certain tourist route, everyone takes the same shots, they come into your frame, otherwise , it happens that the organizers completely prohibit filming anything. In short, complete frustration and no exclusivity! Fortunately, we were spared all these inconveniences and hardships, because for us, STX made an exception - they arranged an individual excursion and explained and showed everything in detail, and, of course, they also gave us permission to film.

The Turku shipyard has been around for 300 years and is now part of STX Europe, which has a total of 15 shipyards in 6 countries. 3 of them are in Finland, and the one we visited is the largest of them. Its area is 144 hectares, it employs about 1,650 people, and the size of its dry dock is 365x80 meters. The largest cruise ship in the world at the moment was built here, in 2009, it is called Oasis of the Seas and has a length of 361 meters and a width of 66 meters (for comparison, the Titanic had a length of 269 meters and a width of 28).

1. A frame from the STX media bank, where the construction process of the largest cruise ship Oasis of the Seas and its twin Allure of the Seas at the shipyard in Turku is visible at the dock.

As a child, I had a neighbor, a former submariner, who had models of submarines and warships on his cabinets, which I really enjoyed looking at and being amazed at how even the smallest details were worked out. And in the STX office there are models of all the ships they built. It was a surprise for me to see Russian and Soviet ships among them. It turned out that STX Finland has been actively cooperating with our shipbuilders since the times of the USSR.

2. Voyager of the Seas, built in 1999. Now it is no longer the largest, “only” 311 meters long.

3. …


4. Soviet.

5. At the entrance to the office there is a bell hanging from an old sailing ship built here a long time ago. This is not a cheap “market of the year” souvenir that popular bloggers award each other every year - this is a real rarity!

6. …

7. In the locker room they found these artifacts, reminiscent of the long-standing cooperation of the two countries.

8. Models are good, but we came to see how real big ships are built! The assembly of any machine begins with metal sheets, which are cut, bent, and welded.

9. These are metal sheets that will become the hull of the ship in the future. Their thickness is 3-5 cm.

10. Crane operator with cordless control panel.

11. …

12. Picked it up, carried it, put it down: it’s just a terrible dream of the owner of slot machines with soft toys).

13. Cranes with electromagnets. Remembering the cartoon “Well, wait a minute,” I decided not to get too close to them)).

14. Metal is cut with plasma, controlled by computer programs.

15. Blanks are obtained.

16. Most of the blanks do not at all resemble any of the recognizable parts of the ship, and only specialists know what’s what.

17. Welded pieces of metal.

18. Photo from STX media bank. Unfortunately, we did not see how the interior space was being equipped; at the time of our visit there were no ships at this stage of work. The cabins are assembled and brought to the shipyard in assembled form from the subsidiary company STX Finland Cabins, also located in the suburbs of Turku.

19. There are few people in the workshops, one shift was finishing work, the second had not yet started it: “pirrriff, boss.”

20. Yes, the Tajiks and Uzbeks were not noticed at the shipyard. By the way, there are practically none of them in our factories where I have visited - blue-collar professions require qualifications.

21. However, at the STX shipyard we were told that “guest workers”, if they are good specialists with the necessary education, are hired regardless of their origin. They also teach the necessary skills; there are special training classes for this. The salary level at the shipyard starts on average from 2000 euros.

22. People, ayy! No, my favorite genre “people at work” did not work out here.

23. Employees move around the shipyard on bicycles. This is probably a common phenomenon for Finnish enterprises: we also observed this at the Helsinki metro depot. A

I recently visited a large shipyard that produces warships. The Zelenodolsk plant named after Gorky recently celebrated its 120th anniversary. Now it is a large and modern production facility. What’s nice is that the rate of production at the plant is growing; today 18 ships are being built at the same time. The plant's portfolio includes large orders from the Russian Navy and a number of foreign countries.

2. A visit to the plant traditionally begins with a monument to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Boats and ships for the navy were produced here; many of the plant’s employees went to the front.
The armored boat "Kalyuzhny" went through the entire war from Azov to Vienna, and now it occupies its rightful place on the pedestal right at the entrance.

3. It is worth noting the plant’s museum, which tells the history of its development from ship repair shops of the century before last to the present day.

4. The shipyard produced not only ships, but also, for example, snowmobiles. Also, at all times, the plant supplied metal structures for bridges and other structures. The equipment produced for the oil and gas industry is in high demand.

5. I think that “Meteora” is familiar to everyone. Over the course of 40 years, the plant in Zelenodolsk has produced 375 of these hydrofoil motor ships, including for export. Meteors were operated in more than 100 countries.
The maximum speed recorded for this project was 108 kilometers per hour.
Interesting fact: the first captain of the hydrofoil Meteor was the famous pilot Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Devyatayev, who during the Great Patriotic War was able to escape from captivity by hijacking an enemy bomber. Mikhail Devyataev worked for a long time at a plant in Zelenodolsk.

6. One of the promising projects - the ship of Project A-145 - is depicted in the painting in the museum gallery. A high-speed planing-type passenger vessel for transporting 150 passengers with luggage at a speed of about 40 knots over a distance of up to 200 miles during daylight hours in the coastal sea zone. Two such ships have already been produced. Looks futuristic.

7. Very large ships are not built in Zelenodolsk, because they have to travel along rivers to customers. But the concepts of “big” and “small” are very relative. I can't help but call 100-meter ships small. The museum displays models of dozens of “small missile”, “small artillery”, “small patrol” ships produced at the plant at different times.
Take, for example, the frigate Cheetah. Length - 102 meters, width 13 meters, displacement 2100 tons. A very popular project, a little later we will see it on a real scale.

8. We go to the production workshops. The first thing that catches your eye is that they are huge. Secondly, everything is very clean, everything is painted and kept in perfect order.

9. In recent years, a lot of work has been done to modernize and technically re-equip the plant. This allowed us to increase productivity and product quality.

10. Modern machines are impressive. For example, the MESSER metal plasma cutting line allows you to cut metal almost a centimeter thick at a speed of 12 meters per minute.

11. All operations are carried out under computer control.

12. Equipment for waterjet cutting of metal Caretta Tehnology can cut non-ferrous metals, steel and even titanium with a jet of water with abrasive substances supplied under enormous pressure. You look, and it’s hard to believe in the reality of what’s happening: water cuts metal.

13. The plant needs highly qualified personnel. To increase the attractiveness of the enterprise, the plant even began to build its own housing.

14. The huge FACCIN hydraulic press allows you to bend metal up to 20 millimeters thick in three dimensions at once.

15. Production works even on weekends. I love shots like this.

16. Factory inspector.

17. The construction of ships can be compared to the assembly of a construction kit. First, individual sections are assembled.

18. Then the sections are transported to the ship assembly site.

19. The finished sections are fastened together.

20. This is what the ship assembly looks like.

21. Project 22160 patrol ships are designed to provide border patrol service for the protection of territorial waters, patrol the 200-mile exclusive economic zone in the open and closed seas, suppress smuggling and pirate activities, search for and provide assistance to victims of maritime disasters, and environmental monitoring of the environment in peacetime, protection of ships and vessels during sea passage. By the way, after the story with the Somali pirates, the demand for such ships has increased significantly.

22. The standard armament of Project 22160 ships is a 57 mm automatic artillery mount, machine guns and Gibka launchers for Igla anti-aircraft missiles.
The main weapon is the 57mm A-220M artillery mount, which is equipped with an angular turret with a minimal radar signature. On ships being built for the Russian Navy, it is planned to install a 76mm AK-176MA gun.
The ships can also carry the Kalibr-NK missile system (with 3M14 and 3M54 missiles), for which 2x4 specialized lifting launchers are allocated in the stern of the ship. In addition, the ship is equipped with a 12-ton helicopter.
Currently, three ships of this project are being built simultaneously.

23. Looks a lot like a spaceship from Star Wars. The angular shapes of the design are designed to reduce radar signature.

24. Pay attention to the carts with rails. The ship will be launched along them.

25. Outside the workshop gates you can see ships that have already been built and are ready for sea trials. This is the Gepard frigate, also a patrol ship of Project 11661. The ships are designed to perform a range of tasks: searching for and combating underwater, surface and air targets, performing patrol duty, conducting convoy operations, as well as protecting the maritime economic zone.

26. An amazing sight - a fully equipped ship. Now he has a long way to go to the sea for comprehensive testing.

27. Nearby you can see a fellow “Cheetah”.

I thank the employees of JSC Zelenodolsk Plant named after A.M. for the tour. Gorky" and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan, as well as the organizers of the Neforum, thanks to whom this trip took place.

General sponsors of NeForum 2016.