The operation on towing of cruiser Aurora from Kronstadt Shipyard to the place of her permanent mooring in Saint-Petersburg (the Petrogradskaya Embankment opposite the Nakhimov Naval School) will be performed at night, July 15/16, by three tugboats of PORT FLEET CJSC: the Leonid Bochkov, the Pavlovsk and the Tuman, the Company told IAA PortNews.
The operation will start on July 15 at 21:00 (Moscow time) at the berth of Kronstadt Ship Repair Plant. The the Aurora will be towed along the Seaway Canal and along the Neva River under the drawn spans of tree bridges – Blagoveshchensky, Dvortsovy and Troitsky bridges.
The vessel will be followed by two tugboats of the Leningrad Naval Base (LNB) carrying the ladder and the facilities for safe mooring of the ship at her base at the Petrogradskaya Embankment. Two more LNB tugs will take part in the mooring operation.
All the tugboats involved in the operations will be led by river pilots of the Volgo-Baltic Administration. Two pilots – river pilot of the Volgo-Baltic Administration and a sea pilot of Rosmorport – will work onboard the Aurora.
The operation is to be completed on July 16, at about 03:00-04:00 (Moscow time) depending o the weather conditions. The towage is possible with the wind of up to 10 m/sec. In case of weather deterioration during the operation a shelter is foreseen at the English and the Lieutenant Schmidt Embankments (no passenger ships will be moored there).
The Neva current speed is about 3 m/sec. The cruiser will be towed up the current. With the Aurora draft of some 6 meters the ship’s speed will be about 5-6 knots.
In September 2014, the operation on towing of the Aurora from her permanent base in Saint-Petersburg to Kronshtadt was also performed by the tugboats of CJSC PORT FLEET.
Related links:
IAA PortNews has published a photo report on towing of cruiser Aurora to Kronshtadt >>>>.
PORT FLEET successfully completes the towage of "Aurora" (photo release) >>>>