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Shipbuilders float out latest Project 22870 rescue tug for Russian Navy

The Project 22870 rescue tug Mikhail Chekhov engineered by the Vympel Design Bureau in Nizhny Novgorod in the Volga area is designed to render assistance to ships in distress and rescue personnel, tow vessels and extinguish fires on affected ships and onshore facilities

MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/. The Astrakhan Ship Repair Plant (part of the Zvyozdochka Ship Repairing Center within the United Shipbuilding Corporation) floated out the Project 22870 rescue tug Mikhail Chekhov for the Russian Navy, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"Today an official ceremony took place at the Astrakhan Ship Repair Plant branch to float out the rescue tug Mikhail Chekhov built for the Russian Navy," the ministry said in a statement.

After the program of tests is successfully completed and the flag is raised on the ship, the Mikhail Chekhov will join the force of the Black Sea Fleer’s rescue vessels. Chief of the Russian Navy Shipbuilding Department Rear Admiral Ilyas Shigalov welcomed participants in the float-out ceremony on behalf of the Navy commander-in-chief. He thanked shipbuilders and designers for the work done and noted that six vessels of this Project were successfully accomplishing search and rescue missions for the Russian Navy.

The Project 22870 rescue tug Mikhail Chekhov engineered by the Vympel Design Bureau in Nizhny Novgorod in the Volga area is designed to render assistance to ships in distress and rescue personnel, tow vessels and extinguish fires on affected ships and onshore facilities.

The rescue tug has the capability to keep distressed ships afloat and carry out complex diving works at depths of up to 60 meters. In addition, the vessel can accomplish objectives of cleaning up oil spills and carrying out search and survey operations.

The rescue tug has been named after Mikhail Chekhov, a Black Sea Fleet officer and the commander of emergency and rescue teams that raised ships and vessels sunken by the enemy near Black Sea ports during the Soviet Union’s 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany.

The rescue tug Mikhail Chekhov is the Project 22870 seventh vessel built at the Astrakhan Ship Repair Plant. The Project 22870 lead rescue tug SB-45 was delivered to the Russian Navy in 2014.