Russians towing Canadians - Part 1

The subject of decommissioned warships has been a topic on Shipfax recently. The unfortunate reality is that these ships eventually need to be disposed of. Most of the Canadian warshsips decommissioned from the east coast of Canada have been towed overseas for scrap.

The tugs that have towed these ships, ironically, have included Russian - the old foes from the cold war days.

Assiniboine leaving Halifax November 25, 1995 in tow of Kaliningradets.

Kaliningradets is one of a large fleet of similar tugs. It was built in 1984 by the Yaroslavskiy shipyard and is still in service.

Assiniboine and Kaliningradets were reported in Durban February 7, 1986 en route to India.

Sapfir, built in 1988 was of the same class. It is getting underway from pier 9 (that is the fantail of Ryan Leet in the foreground). It had been operating under the Ukraine flag since 1992 for Marine Rescue Service Mars and is till in use.

Its tow was ex HMCS Ottawa, leaving Halifax April 4, 1994 and arriving in Alang, India August 15.

On March 13, 1994, the former HMCS Margaree left Halifax in tow.

The tow was assigned to icebreaker Afanasiy Nikitin, under the Ukrainian flag. Built as Ledokol-2 in 1962 by Admiralteiskiy-Werft in Leningrad.

The tug was in pretty raw shape itself, but made it to Cape Town about April 14 and Bombay about May 14. The tug itself was broken up in Alang May 28, 1995.

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