Posted on 09/21/2012 3:15:50 AM PDT by ryan71
On September 18th Russia told India that delivery of the refurbished Russian carrier Admiral Gorshkov (since renamed the INS Vikramaditya) would be delayed ten months. The problem is that seven of eight steam boilers in the carrier power plant failed during recent high-speed trials. The Russians blame India for this, as the Indians refused to allow the Russians to use asbestos to insulate the steam boilers. Instead the Russians had to use firebrick which, as some engineers suspected, was not adequate. Now extensive work has to be done on the engines to rectify the problem. India is not happy with yet another delay. The Gorshkov served in the Russian Navy from 1987 to 1995, but was then withdrawn from service because the navy could not afford to keep the carrier operational. Gorshkov was put up for sale and in 2005 India agreed to buy a refurbished Gorshkov.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
Might as well tow it around with a few tugs. ;-)
I have to assume this was a cost-cutting measure, since I can’t imagine any other reason to use firebrick, when there are other non-asbestos insulators available now.
Nice to know that the “Great Un-Natural Acts”, America’s ‘environmental laws’ are just as destructive when applied by and among socialists as they have been in America.
Oh, yeah - those “Great Un-Natural Acts” are called that not as a Clinton joke but because they mandate what physics and biology have proven has never been and can never be.
You can’t run from Sea Wolf or Virginia class submarines any way.
The chances of this working out well were vanishingly small. A carrier is an immensely complicated thing. If this had not gone wrong (if this is what actually went wrong) it would have been something else.
If I remember right the Indians got screwed on a plane deal too. Buy some tanks and make it a trifecta. When you shop at Crazy Ivan’s Discount Army & Navy Store, you’d better get a written warranty.
Yeah, but this delay was eminently preventable by the simplest of steps. Heck, it took me all of 15 seconds to find “stone wool” using google. The Indians’ objections were to asbestos specifically, not to boiler insulation mats in general. Using brick was just pigheadedness on the part of the Russians.
India has to decide whether they are SERIOUS about beefing up their military, or would rather ‘save the world’.
I seriously doubt that the U.S. used asbestos on the larger boiler-fired amphibious ships or on our carriers, and none of them seem to suffer from boiler melt-down. Why didn’t India tell the Russians to use what we use? I can’t imagine it’s any sort of deep, dark military secret.
The problem with dealing with the Russians, aside from quality and schedule, is that they are always renegotiating terms, and try to bleed the customer for more and more. You always wind up paying a lot more than you originally agreed to. They are shifty, in other words.
At least the screws didn’t fall of.
LOL! “Joo ‘vanted screws? Cost extra.”
I’ll bet dollars to donuts that the early Nimitz class all used asbestos. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asbestos, properly handled. In the ship building crash during World War II, when standards were looser, a lot of asbestos was blown in without proper safeguards for workers and handlers.
Once asbestos is installed, it’s harmless. The danger from asbestos is inhalation of airborne fibers. It’s only as an aerosol that asbestos poses any danger. The entire “asbestos remediation” project was a farce, the best thing you can do with installed asbestos is leave it alone. They used to put tiny jars of asbestos in Gilbert chemistry sets.
It’s another example of the triumph of hysteria over facts.
What does India need with an aircraft carrier?
“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!”
I just educated myself on “Indigo Montoya”. What a fantastic story!!!!!
They expect to mix it up with the ChiComs.
Well-— hysterics and law suits.
Remember when many house were covered with asbestos shingles? Many of them still are, and the shingles covered over with plastic siding now because it costs a fortune to get rid of the shingles.
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