PARIS, April 15. /TASS/. The Sevastopol Mistral-class helicopter carrier built for Russia will not go on third sea trials, a representative of the French shipbuilding company DCNS told TASS on Wednesday.
"The company has decided that two sea trials were sufficient," Emmanuel Gaudez said.
Godez said earlier that the second trials which began on Tuesday were successful.
"The ship has returned to the port," he said adding that the sea trials were held to test the ship's navigation equipment, floating stability and maneuverability and took two days instead of three as planned before.
The Sevastopol's previous sea trials held in March lasted for a week.
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Russia-France Mistral contract
The €1.12 billion contract for the construction of two Mistral-type helicopter carriers for the Russian Navy was signed in June 2011.
Under the contract, Russia was expected to receive the first of the two warships, the Vladivostok, in the autumn of 2014. However, Paris suspended the ship’s handover to Russia at the very last moment over Moscow’s stance on developments in neighboring Ukraine.
It was planned that the second ship, the Sevastopol, would be handed over to Russia in the second half of 2015. But the deal was suspended like in the case with the first Mistral ship.
The Mistral-type helicopter carriers have a displacement of 21 tons, the maximum body length of 210 meters, the speed of 18 knots and the range of up to 20,000 miles.
The helicopter carrier can accommodate 450 people in addition to its crew of 180. It carries 16 helicopters, of which six can be simultaneously stored on the flight-deck.
A compartment in the cargo deck can accommodate more than 40 tanks or 70 motorized vehicles. Mistral landing helicopter carriers are capable of performing four tasks at the same time: receive helicopters, land troops, and act as a command post and a floating hospital.