A ceremony was held on 14 August 2025 for the Project 20181 Akademik Makeyev reinforced ice-class weapons transport departing the slipway. The ceremony was held at the Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center. As noted by the United Shipbuilding Corporation [USC] public affairs office, the vessel was developed by the Almaz Design Bureau by order of the Russian Defense Ministry and will be used for loading, unloading and transporting weapons.
As the public affairs office noted, “The USC designers have carried out work on a deep modernization of the basic design, using Russian-made ship systems and mechanisms.” The Admiral Makeyev was laid down in July 2015. After launching, outfitting work will continue on the vessel – finishing the interior, completing assembly, electrical installation, and paint work, and subsequent mooring trials. Upon completion of the outfitting and subsequent testing cycle, the vessel will be handed over to the Russian Navy.
The weapons transport was named in honor of two-time Hero of Socialist Labor Viktor Petrovich Makeyev, an eminent Russian scientist and engineer, head of the Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau (now the Academician V.P. Makeyev State Rocket Center), and general designer of submarine-based ballistic missile systems.
The Akademik Makeyev evolved from the Project 20180 line of vessels. Based on the basic design, USC designers developed a wide range of special-purpose vessels with various functional features: the Zvezdochka rescue tugboat, the Akademik Kovalev marine weapons transport vessel, and the Akademik Aleksandrov oceanographic research vessel.
The main technical specifications of the Project 20181 weapons transport: length – 107.6 m; maximum width – 17.8 m; full displacement – 6,300 tons; crew – 60. The vessel is capable of launching and landing Ka-29 helicopters; reinforced ice class – Arc5; her navigation area is unlimited.
The LiveJournal blogger “kuleshovoleg” has 35 photos of the ceremony preparations and the document signing on his outstanding blog. By his own admission, he sometimes has difficulty to find the best photos to upload, so he floods his blog with all of them. His blog is definitely worth subscribing to.
Translation © 2025 by Michael Estes and TranslatingHistory.org
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