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Fire on Russia's Only Aircraft Carrier Kills 1, Injures 11

Associated Press

   MOSCOW - Russia's only aircraft carrier suffered a massive fire
   Thursday that killed one crew member, injured another 11 people and
   significantly damaged the ill-fated ship that has been haunted by
   incidents throughout its service.

   The fire on the AdmiralKuznetsovbroke out during welding work at a
   shipyard in the Arctic port of Murmansk and spread quickly through the
   carrier's internal compartments. The ship's crew and emergency teams
   spent the day battling the blaze.

   The military said one crew member died while battling the fire, and
   another one was missing.

   Authorities in Murmansk said 11 people were injured and 10 of them were
   hospitalized in intensive care.

   The Investigative Committee, the nation's top stateinvestigative
   agency, opened a probe into a possible violation of safety rules.

   Russian state television showed the carriernear its berth,next to a
   snow-covered hill, engulfed by smoke.The Defense Ministry said the fire
   was localized.

   Breakdowns, setbacks

   The AdmiralKuznetsovhas been plagued by breakdowns andsetbacks since
   its launch in 1985. The massive blazefollowedthe crash ofa 70-ton crane
   onto the AdmiralKuznetsov'sdeck in October 2018 when a mammoth floating
   dock holding the ship sank.

   The crane left a hole of 20 square meters (215 square feet), and the
   loss of the dock significantly slowed down repairs on the carrier since
   the navy lacked another of comparable size.

   Thursday's fire will further push back the work to fit the ship with
   modern control systems and new weapons.

   With its turbines belching black smoke, the AdmiralKuznetsovlooks
   outdated compared with the nuclear-powered carriers of the United
   States. However, the Kremlin has used it to project military might far
   from Russia's shores.

   In 2016, the AdmiralKuznetsovwas deployed to the eastern Mediterranean
   as part of Russia's campaign in Syria, launching the first
   carrier-mounted attacks in Russian naval history.It lost two
   carrier-borne fighters in incidents during the Syria mission.

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