The Insanely Armed, Briefly Feared, Abandoned Soviet Aircraft Cruisers

[Music] for decades the soviet navy terrorized the nato allies in the ocean with a mighty carrier fleet in stark contrast to their american counterparts the russian aircraft carriers were equipped with so many weapons that they did not need escorts to carry out their dangerous missions however once the soviet union fell in 1991 the legendary fleet began to wither away although some of the vessels continued to serve under a different flag after being bought by other countries others like the kiev class carrier minsk suffered a different fate becoming a theme park in china [Music] minsk to this day the russian navy only has one carrier vessel the admiral kuznetsov heavy aircraft cruiser however during soviet times several heavy aircraft cruisers sailed the oceans and terrified the north atlantic treaty organization naval forces [Music] these soviet cruisers differ significantly from their american counterparts all the u.s navy carriers are floating bases protected by a group of escort warships the russian heavy aircraft cruisers were so well armed that they could carry missions by themselves the kiev ship soviet designation project 1143 kretschket was the first class of both fixed-wing aircraft carriers and battle cruisers built for the soviet navy this design of which only four models were built was made with a large island superstructure to starboard it also has a bow and island that looks similar to a battle cruiser along with a somewhat small angled flight deck instead of being known simply as carriers like the american version these vessels were called heavy aircraft cruisers amongst the soviet sailors their intended mission was strategic missile submarine support and the vessels were capable of anti-aircraft anti-submarine and surface warfare minsk a kiev class carrier named after the capital of belarus a former soviet territory was laid down in 1972 launched in 1975 and completed in 1978. befitting the soviet carriers the vessel had launchers for eight p-500 basalt anti-ship cruise missiles and two turrets with twin 76 millimeter guns among other powerful weapons minsk initially operated the soviet pacific fleet and had an uneventful service life during the final years of the cold war as did her sister ships kiev and novorosisk a fourth kiev class carrier baku was also commissioned in 1979 shortly after the sino-vietnamese war she was deployed to the south china sea making a port of call in the south vietnamese city of kamran bay the following year then two years later she visited vietnam once more during her second deployment before sailing to the indian ocean for another mission in 1984 minsk alongside the ivan rogoff class landing ship alexander nikolayev and northern vietnam forces conducted the first amphibious landing by the soviet navy in the war russia when the soviet union collapsed in december of 1991 the new russian navy took possession of all four kiev-class ships however they were difficult and costly to maintain by then mints had already been put into mothballs several years before as a result of a significant but unknown incident the fire and according to the 1993 edition of the combat fleets of the world quote severe engineering problems the shipyards with the necessary means to conduct repairs were now an independent ukraine so there were limited options for rehabilitation it was then decided that minsk and niverosis would be sold for scrap in 1995 both ships made their way to south korea to be taken apart meanwhile one of the other sister ships kiev was left behind for another purpose while baku by then renamed admiral gorshkov was sold to india after years of extensive renovations the latter is still currently in active service as a short takeoff but arrested recovery or stobar carrier and renamed to nis vikramaditya [Music] although navarosius was ultimately scrapped in 1997 protests in south korea by environmentalists prompted the sale of minsk to guangdong ship dismantling a chinese ship breaking company minsk was saved from the scrapyard once again when she was resold to ck investment company limited a company established by chinese entrepreneurs who earned their money through video game arcades the entrepreneurs paid 4.3 million dollars for the former soviet ship which amounts to 7.3 million in today's currency and soon revealed their true intentions to build a military theme park with minsk as its main attraction [Music] minsk world [Music] located in the shenzhen guangdong province in southeast china the aptly named minsk world opened its doors in 2000. during its height the park was so popular that only the most well-connected people in the country had access to it for its permanent exhibit minsk was repainted with hull number 15 matching the chinese type 01 aircraft carrier liaoning commissioned into the people's liberation army navy surface force several facilities inside minsk such as the sleeping quarters and armament were set up as exhibits for the visitors the staff at the park were dressed in mock military uniforms and the carrier was also the stage for regular musical performances held on the flight and hanger decks while a ride around the ship's starboard side was also available for vip visitors via a motorboat apart from the main attraction the park also featured a varied assortment of aircraft displayed on the carrier and the mainland area such as the mig-23 mi 24 mikoyian mig-27 yakovlev yik-38 san-3 5365 torpedo ak-630 and chinese q5 fan tan combat jets many of the aircraft's exact origins including the mig-23s mig-27s and mi-24s are unclear as the chinese military did not operate these the most likely explanation is that these flying and non-flying exemplars were sold in the open market by commercial enterprises and private citizens an economic activity often performed in the aftermath of the cold war even before the park opened there had been some rumblings that the carriers purchased by a chinese company was some kind of deceptive plan to assist the people's liberation army navy but that never happened mock missiles bombs torpedoes and other soviet militaria were also displayed in the park and exhibits covering chinese military history however minsk world wasn't the only military amusement park in china though direct competition was binhai aircraft park located in jianjin china a hundred miles southeast of beijing the park owned kievan minsk's sister ship the facilities also had aircraft on display as well as non-flying mock-ups according to liu chang the marketing manager at binhai aircraft park there were plenty of reasons to have so many visitors in the park quote previously china didn't have aircraft carriers people find them mysterious and are curious about them even though china's first aircraft carrier the lao ning has now gone on sea trials it will be quite hard for the public to ever visit it i guess people can come here to fulfill their curiosity going bankrupt after a steep decline in visitor numbers in the mid-2000s the shenzhen mints company went bankrupt in 2006. the chinese government then decided to reclaim the land and the minsk amusement park officially closed its doors that same year on may 31st minsk was auctioned off and sold for 128 million chinese yuan to siddiq shenzhen a company that specialized in electronic communication products they then reopened and renamed the place to the acidic minsk world military theme park however it was also closed later in the year the carrier was then sold to dailan yongjuag group a real estate company in dailan north china in january of 2013. [Music] sometime between 2017 and 2018 the ship arrived in a man-made body of water just off the yangtze river in nantung china the ship would remain there until the owners decided what to do with it and there was speculation that they wanted to build another minsk world [Music] minsk's immediate neighbors are farming in agricultural facilities and looking at satellite images from the area an abandoned viewing platform leading back to a tinted pavilion last north of the lagoon [Music] although there were plans to repair the vessel and reopen the theme park that has not happened and it's not entirely clear why meanwhile binhai aircraft park remains open for visitors and the company is planning to repair and renovate kiev to turn it into a five-star luxury hotel complete with several presidential suites a grim ending today minsk remains abandoned on the man-made lagoon about 50 miles northwest of shanghai the carrier's general condition suggests that there are no plans to move it anytime soon and there's no security in place at the site however many people haven't forgotten about it although there are no signs of official activity on or around the ship urban explorer tourists from all over the world continually travel to china to explore the empty soviet vessel remains of the aircraft exhibits are still inside but rotting away as witnessed in several videos that visitors have uploaded to the web the future of the minsk remains looks bleak and although it is unknown how much longer her present owners will let the vessel languist in the artificial lagoon before making a final decision the longer she sits there her most likely final destination will be a scrap yard [Music] thank you for watching our dark seas video if you know of a story you'd like to see featured on a future video please let us know in the comments below don't forget to like and subscribe to our other channels and hit the bell icon to be notified of all our newest content

Channel: Dark Seas

Views: 1,377,946

Keywords: navy, naval, documentary, history, history channel, warships, dark docs, aircraft carrier, soviet, abandoned

Id: FOY2nwQXLEo

Length: 10min 56sec (656 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 11 2021