The first serial tugboat of project 23470 "Andrey Stepanov" went to factory sea trials. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Defense.
According to the report, tests of the sea tug are carried out in the Black Sea, on board, apart from the ship’s crew, are representatives of the Yaroslavl Shipyard, who train the crew in the operation, maintenance and practical application of ship systems, devices and mechanisms.
As noted by the Ministry of Defense, after the completion of factory sea trials, the tug will return to the Perseus shipyard in Sevastopol, where the tug will be prepared for state trials. Commissioning of the vessel is scheduled for 2021.
The second tugboat Andrei Stepanov, after the lead Sergey Balk, is the first serial in a series of five marine tugboats of Project 23470. Built at the Yaroslavl Shipyard according to the contract for two sea tugboats for the Ministry of Defense concluded in 2014. Laid down at YaZZ on July 27, 2015 and launched on June 29, 2017. Later it was transferred to the Sevastopol shipyard "Perseus", where it was completed on the water.
The tugboat is named after Andrey Ivanovich Stepanov (1863–1905), who served in the Baltic navy, participated in long voyages on cruisers "Rurik" and "Admiral Nakhimov", was repeatedly encouraged by the command, was awarded the orders of St. Anne 3 tbsp., St. Stanislav 2 and 3 tbsp. in 1903, for the distinction, he was promoted to captain of rank 2. In 1904 he was appointed commander of the Kamchatka transport and workshop, which was part of the Second Squadron of the Pacific Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky. In the final phase of the Tsushima battle, A. Stepanov tried to help the heavily damaged flagship battleship "Prince Suvorov" and even cover him from the attack of the Japanese destroyer detachment with small-caliber guns from Kamchatka. He died at a combat post in a battle with the enemy.
The construction of marine tugboats of project 23470 is delayed significantly due to the halt in the construction of tugboats due to the processing of the project to replace imported components with domestic ones. Currently, the head tug "Sergey Balk" is serving in the Black Sea Fleet. The ceremony of bringing the tugboat into the squad of support vessels for the auxiliary fleet was held on February 21 this year in Sevastopol. Three more tugboats are under construction at the Yaroslavl Shipyard. They are built on a modified project with the installation of Russian equipment.
These marine tugs are designed to perform marine towing of ships, floating objects and structures in ice and in clear water; pilotage of vessels in the water area of ports and docking; performing escort operations at sea; extinguishing fires at floating and onshore facilities, as well as extinguishing fuel burning on water; stranded ships and ships.
At the aft end of the vessel there is a platform for receiving and taking off helicopters. The presence of a crane with a lifting capacity of 20 tons at a boom reach of 13 m with active roll compensation allows the tug to independently carry out cargo operations and serve the helipad both in calm water and in marine conditions.
The main dimensions of the vessel: length, m 69,75; greatest width, m 15,0; board height to VP, m 6,7; the largest draft, m 5,2, displacement - 3200 tons. Autonomy in terms of provisions - 30 days, cruising range at a speed of 14 knots. - 3000 miles. Navigation area - unlimited in accordance with Arc 4 ice reinforcement class.