Fire Strikes Former Soviet Aircraft Carrier in Chinese Lagoon

A former Soviet aircraft carrier, which had been repurposed as a tourist attraction, was engulfed in flames over the weekend in a lagoon near Shanghai. The fire has marked yet another setback for the decommissioned vessel as it undergoes transformation into a military-themed amusement park.

The Minsk, which had been moored for the last eight years in a lagoon close to the Yangtze River in Nantong, Jiangsu province, caught fire during renovations aimed at its new role in a military-themed park, according to state-run China National Radio. The blaze began Friday afternoon and was brought under control approximately 24 hours later.

Social media images depicted thick smoke and substantial flames on the carrier’s deck, with subsequent photos revealing significant damage to the ship’s superstructure and scorched metal along its side.

“There have been no reported injuries, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation,” local fire officials stated. The Minsk had previously been the centerpiece of a now-defunct theme park in southern China for 16 years before its relocation.

The latest renovation efforts to feature the Minsk in a new theme park are now uncertain, according to the report. An official expressed regret over the incident, noting the fire has introduced significant uncertainties into the project’s future.

Once a prominent member of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, the Minsk was one of four Kiev-class aircraft carriers constructed by the Soviet Union between 1970 and 1987. With a displacement of about 42,000 tons and a length of 896 feet (273 meters), it was capable of carrying a dozen fighter jets and an equal number of helicopters.

The ship was built in what is now Ukraine and named after the current capital of Belarus. After its commissioning in 1978, it served in the Soviet Pacific Fleet until the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, at which point it became Russian Navy property. Russia retired the vessel in 1993, selling it along with a sister ship, the Novorossiysk, to a South Korean company for scrap.

While the Novorossiysk was dismantled in South Korea, environmental groups protested the Minsk’s presence there. The ship was subsequently sold to a Chinese company, which eventually made it the centerpiece of the Minsk World theme park in Shenzhen, which opened in 2000. The park faced financial difficulties and closed in 2016, leading to the Minsk’s relocation to its current site in Nantong.

Another sister ship of the Minsk, the Kiev, is currently an attraction at the Binhai Aircraft Carrier Theme Park in Tianjin. Of the four Kiev-class carriers built by the Soviets, only the final one, the Baku, remains in service. It was sold to India in 2004, refurbished, and commissioned into the Indian Navy in 2013 as the INS Vikramaditya, where it now serves as the flagship.