Russian Destroyer Catches Fire During Repairs

On Friday, the anti-submarine destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov caught fire while undergoing repairs at the Port of Vladivostok. 

The fire began in the vessel's engine room, according to local emergency response officials, and a preliminary investigation suggests that it started in insulation or cladding during welding work. A spokesman for Far East Center for Shipbuilding and Ship Repair (DTSS) told RIA Novosti that the blaze was contained to a small number of compartments. All 106 personnel on board were evacuated, no injuries were reported and the damage was reportedly minor. 

"There was an insignificant fire in the superstructure, it was discovered in time, the Emergency Situations Ministry called in time, it was localized, extinguished, [and] now it is being inspected," a shipyard spokesperson told TASS. There were no munitions on board at the time of the incident. 

The Marshal Shaposhnikov is a Soviet-era Udaloy I-class destroyer, and was commissioned into Russia's Pacific Fleet in 1986. She is perhaps best known as the vessel that rescued the tanker Moscow University from hijackers off Somalia in 2010. In that incident, her boarding team successfully brought all 23 crewmembers of the tanker to safety and detained 10 pirates. The hijackers were released in a small boat; Russian defense sources indicated that none made it back to shore. 

The Shaposhnikov entered a repair period at Vladivostok last year to receive weapons systems upgrades, including vertical launch cells for the Kalibr cruise missile. 

[In Russian]