Baltic Shipyard and Machine-Building Plant

Categories / Economy/Industry
BALTIC SHIPYARD AND MACHINE-BUILDING PLANT (16 Kosaya Line), open joint-stock company, one of the biggest ship and machine building enterprises of Russia. It was founded in 1856 by M. E. Karr, a merchant and M. L. McPherson, an engineer. In 1874 the plant became propriety of a joint-stock company, and since 1895 it had been under the supervision of the Department of the Navy. Battleships, many of which became milestones in the history of Russian Fleet were built by the company: The Opyt gunboat was the first iron armoured ship in the country (1861), The Admiral Nakhimov was the most powerful armoured cruiser in the world of that time (1884-87), The Sevastopol and The Petropavlovsk ships of the line were mighty floating fortresses (1909-14). In 1901 the plant started building a series of submarines (the first attempts were undertaken in 1864-66); a special submarine building department was organised in 1906. From 1861 to 1917 over 90 ships - monitor ships, armour-clad ships, cruisers, ships of the line, and others were built at the Baltic Plant. An air department was created for repair and construction of dirigibles in 1912. Machine engineering, most importantly, construction of ship machinery and devices, steam boilers, and electric motors occupied an important place in the work of the plant. During WW I (1914-18) the company completed the construction of ships laid down before the war, produced ammunition, repaired ships, railway engines and cars. After October 1917, the plant built ships for civil purposes along with battleships. The 1st Soviet timber ship was built in 1925. During the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) ships were repaired, trawlers were constructed, and barges were reequipped into gunboats. In post-war years the Baltic Plant built ships with nuclear propulsion engines (in the 1980s a series of atomic guided weapon cruisers was built). In 1997 Peter the Great cruiser - the most powerful guided weapon ship of the Russian Navy went into service. Seven nuclear icebreakers, as well as timber carrying vessels and ore carriers, refrigerator vessels, tankers (including chemical tankers), research vessels, including Kosmonavt Vladimir Komarov and Kosmonavt Yury Gagarin designed for the support of manned spaceflights, were completed in the period from 1970 to 1990. Today the Baltic Plant is one of the biggest exporters of armament. The Plant plans to begin construction of refrigerator trailers, participate in the project for construction of a series of floating power stations for the Far North and the Far East, and build floating distillation complexes and oil-refining vessels.

References: Кузнецов К. А., Лившиц Л. З., Плясунов В. И. Балтийский судостроительный: Очерк истории Балт. судостр. з-да им. С. Орджоникидзе. Л., 1970; История Балтийского завода, 1856-1925: В 2 т. / Под общ. ред. О. Б. Шуляковского. СПб., 2003. Т. 1.

V. S. Solomko. Carr Mattias
Gagarin Yury Alexeevich
Komarov Vladimir Mikhailovich
Makferson Mark Lvovich
Nakhimov Pavel Stepanovich
Peter I, Emperor
Kosaya Line/Saint Petersburg, city, house 16
Кузнецов К. А., Лившиц Л. З., Плясунов В. И. Балтийский судостроительный: Очерк истории Балт. судостр. з-да им. С. Орджоникидзе. Л., 1970
История Балтийского завода: В 2 т. / Под общ. ред. О.Б. Шуляковского. СПб., 2003 Ministry of the Navy
1856