SEVASTOPOL, July 2. /TASS/: The 13th Ship Repair Plant has completed the dockside repairs of the Guards missile cruiser Moskva, which is the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship, and is beginning to float it out from the dry dock, the Shipyard Spokesman Sergei Gorbachev told TASS on Thursday.
The warship was placed in the dock on April 22. The dockside repairs proceeded along with the cruiser’s maintenance, which was also done by the Shipyard’s specialists.
"Today an operation is beginning to bring the cruiser Moskva out of the dock. As the calculations show, the operation is set to be completed tomorrow. This process takes more time as the repair was done in the dry dock and it is first necessary to fill it up with water and then start floating out the ship," the spokesman said.
After that, the structures used during the Moskva’s repairs will be dismantled and the site will be equipped for receiving the guard ship Smetlivy, which is going to be turned into a museum. The Smetlivy will enter the dock in several days. The exact time will be known after the cruiser Moskva is floated out, the spokesman said.
The cruiser Moskva is the Project 1164 ‘Atlant’ lead ship. It entered service in 1983. As its main armament, the warship carries 16 launchers of P-1000 Vulkan missiles.
In the second half of 2015, the cruiser led the Russian Navy’s permanent Mediterranean taskforce where it was shielding Russia’s Hmeymim airbase in Syria with its air defense weapons. On July 22, 2016, the cruiser Moskva was awarded the naval Order of Nakhimov.
