Last week I came across these photos of a Cold War relic, rusting away off the coast of Norway. It is the Murmansk, the last of the Russian all gun cruisers, built in 1955, and upon decommissioning she was sold for scrap. During the tow to India for dismantling she was lost, and the 211 meters long cruiser ended its days in Sørøya in the rocks outside Sørvær on the coast of Finnmark in December 1994. There she sat, as seen in these photos, until in 2008 when the Norwegian Coastal Administration contracted a company to remove the wreck.
The removal operation required a dry dock to be constructed around the ship, details can be seen here, and this is the state of the ship today. There is even a daily webcam of the project!
Murmansk in 1994 when she first wrecked.
Murmansk during her operational days, click the image to see more.
Images from artificialowl.net (first 6), Flickr, and afgruppen.
Really is its current condition that much worse then most of the current Russian navy?
That was freaking fascinating!
Great find!! Great post!!
I agree. I wasted a couple of hours last night checking out the rest of the stuff on Artificial Owls. I love this kind of thing.
Just don't be too disappointed if you happen to see another Artificial Owl inspired post some weekend! I forgot to add a little warning tag about that…
wonder if the pier will be left in place as a mini harbor?