Alexander Suvorov (ship)

For other uses, see Suvorov (disambiguation).

The Alexander Suvorov (Russian: Александр Суворов) is a Valerian Kuybyshev-type (92-016, OL400) Soviet/Russian river cruise ship, cruising in the Volga-Don basin. On 5 June 1983 Suvorov crashed into a girder of the Ulyanovsk railway bridge. The catastrophe led to 177 deaths yet the ship stayed afloat, was restored and still navigates. Her home port is currently Nizhny Novgorod.

The ship was built at Slovenské Lodenice in Komárno, Czechoslovakia in 1981 and was named after the Russian generalissimo Alexander Suvorov. Her length is 135.7 m, width 16.8 m, draft 2.9 m, and power 736 kW. She has three engines and four decks. Her cruising speed is 26 km/h (14 knots or 16.2 MPH), and her passenger capacity is 400. During the 1980s Alexander Suvorov was a flagship of the Volga-Don Lines and was based at Rostov-on-Don.

1983 Tragedy

On 5 June 1983 Suvorov sailed from Rostov to Moscow. There were 330 passengers, 30 crew and 35 service personnel aboard. It is believed that some unregistered passengers were also aboard the ship. At approximately 22:00 an auction was advertised as taking place in the cinema hall on the main deck. A TV translation was to take place at 22:45, which attracted many passengers to the main deck. The senior aide Vladimir Mitenkov and steersman Uvarov operated the ship from the deck-house, which was also on the main deck. Captain Vladimir Kleymenov was resting in his cabin. The ship was sailing at 25 km per hour (14 knots or 15.5 MPH), the maximum speed. The ship reached the sixth span of the bridge, which was lower than the main deck. At that moment a goods train went over the bridge. Controllers at the bank had noticed that Suvorov had come to the wrong span. They sent a radio message to the ship, but there was no reply. They then launched a warning flare, but it was too late. The span cut the deck house and the cinema hall, whilst the lowest deck was undamaged. The ship damaged the railway bridge and some freight cars from the train fell onto the ship. Suvorov continued for another 300 metres after the bridge. The rescue boats reached Suvorov 40 minutes later.

Soon after the tragedy Ulyanovsk was declared a closed city. Volunteers became blood donors and made makeshift coffins. Most of the injured survivors had avulsed wounds as a result of being hit by grain and coal from the train cars.

Investigation

Immediately after the catastrophe different versions of events circulated amongst the population, varying from the drunkenness of the crew to criminal activity. A special commission under Heydar Aliyev investigated the disaster.

The commission proposed four official versions:

1. criminal negligence of senior aide Mitenkov
2. criminal negligence of steersman Uvarov
3. criminal negligence of the railwaymen, who did not set up the illumination of the bridge
4. there was no illumination at the bridge

It is also known that a switch tower at the bridge was similar to the navigation sign, marking the right span. There existed a pre-existing conflict between railwaymen and sailors regarding the illumination of the bridge, but there was speculation that Aliyev protected the Soviet railways minister Beshev and the crew of the Suvorov were accused. Nevertheless, an expert proved that Mitenkov and Uvarov, who were killed in the accident, were sober.

After the accident, Captain Kleymenov was picked up at the dam near the bridge footing. He was in swimming trunks and was distraught. As he failed to prevent the accident and had not provided a proper order, he was condemned to 10 years imprisonment, but was released six years later. He died of an infarction in 1990.

See also

• Alexander Suvorov was also a Sverdlov class cruiser in 1951-1990.

External links

• Photos of tragedy consequences (text in Russian)
• Modern photo of Alexander Suvorov