Varyag - Ex-USSR unfinished Carrier Sold To China For $20 M

The Varyag, an aircraft carrying heavy destroyer of 70,500 ton deadweight (full load) 1,000 foot long (304 meters) with a beam of 240 feet (73 meters). Varyag may be a structurally old (keel laid down December 1985 and launched December 1988) but the Chinese, as of mid 2011, have virtually a brand new multi-role aircraft carrier with state-of- the-art electronics, radar, and defensive weapons, with a currently international fashionable ski jump bow, perhaps, featuring an electromagnetic launch system as US carriers are switching to. Add to all this a few a state-of-the-art carrier aircraft such as the Chinese J-15, a virtual copy of the Russian Sukhoi Su 33 , too, and China has one great weapon system. Way back when, the Varyag was to be the second Soviet Kuzenetsov-class multirole aircraft carrier...sister ship to the USSR's Admiral Kuznetsov. Then, she was known as the "Riga" when her keel was laid down at Nikolayev South (formerly shipyard 444) in the Ukraine on December 1985. She was launched on 4 December 1988, and renamed the "Varyag" (Viking) in late 1990. The Varyag was termed a "TAKR" or "TAVKR" meaning "heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser." It was intended to support and defend strategic missile-carrying submarines, ASW, and maritime missile-carrying aircraft of the Soviet fleet. Construction halted in 1992, with the ship structurally complete and between 60 to 70% finished over all. The Ukraine estimated that it would cost them over $200 million the complete the Varyag. When the USSR collapsed, ownership was transferred to the Ukranine as the Soviet Union broke up into separate countries. The Ukranie couldn't afford the $200 million (or want/need an aircraft carrrier) a result the Varyag was laid up at its shipyard, unmaintained, with several reported on board fires,and partially stripped. As of early 1998, she lacked engines (four), rudders, and much of her operating systems. The hulk was put up for auction by the Ukrainain Government. No one seemed interested until Chinese interestes offered the Ukranie $20 million in March/April 1998. The challenge now was to move this huge hulk some 15,200 miles to China and Dalian, the site of the mainland's key naval shipyards. Dalian is home to China's Heavy Shipbuilding Industry Group. It is one of the largest and most advanced shipyards in China. Towing the Varyag took 110 days (2001 through 2002) by the Tsavliris Salvage and Towage International Group. Once through the Bosporus Strait and into the Mediterranean, the hulk was towed through the Strait of Gibraltar, around Cape of Good Hope, Mozambique, Malacca Straits, Singapore, and into Chinese waters. The Varyag was delievered in March 2002. The tow group for the 15,000 miles included 27 vessels, 11 of which were ocean-going tug boats, pilot boats, and the largest tug in the world, the Russian Nikolay Chiker. The Varyag specifications include: engines as designed: steam turbines, 8 boilers, 4 shafts, 200,000 hp, and 4 fixed pitched propellers. S