The first serial marine tugboat of project 23470 "Andrey Stepanov", built specifically for the Pacific fleet, completed tests on the Black Sea and began preparations for the transition to Kamchatka. This was reported by the press service of the Eastern Military District in the Pacific Fleet.
According to the press service, the sea tug will make an inter-naval transition from the Black Sea to the Pacific Fleet, while it is planned that the ship will arrive at the place of deployment by the Northern Sea Route. In tow is an experienced crew formed in Kamchatka and trained.
The latest tugboat "Andrey Stepanov" will be part of the squad of support vessels for troops and forces in northeast Russia. It is planned that the ship will arrive at the place of deployment by the Northern Sea Route
- said in a statement.
Recall that the tugboat "Andrey Stepanov" went to the factory sea trials in the Black Sea in early May of this year, after their completion the state should have begun, and the commissioning of the tugboat in the fleet was 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.
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.
The tugboat is named after Andrei Ivanovich Stepanov (1863–1905), who in 1904 was appointed commander of the Kamchatka transport 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 a Japanese destroyer detachment with small-caliber guns from Kamchatka. He died at a combat post in a battle with the enemy.