Russia's Only Aircraft Carrier Suffers Another Repair Delay

Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, has suffered another repair delay and will not reenter service until 2024 at the earliest, Tass quoted a defense source as saying on Tuesday.

The ship, launched in 1985, had been due to undergo a refit that would have seen it operational in 2023.

The source told Tass that defects in the work had been discovered, and this meant the ship would remain in dock for longer than initially planned. The vessel had initially been due to return to service this year, but in 2021 that date was pushed back to 2023.

In December 2019 at least one military serviceman was killed, and 12 people were injured by a fire on board the ship. The previous year it sustained damage during repair work when the floating dock holding it sank and a crane crashed onto its deck.

The carrier gained notoriety in Britain in 2017 when then-Defence Secretary Michael Fallon dubbed it the "ship of shame" as it passed through waters close to the English coast belching black smoke.

(Reuters - Reporting by David Ljunggren/Editing by Shri Navaratnam)