Aircraft carrier on the Neva

Few people know that in October 1955 the British aircraft carrier HMS Triumph arrived in Leningrad on a friendly visit. Many Leningrad residents gladly came to Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment, where it was moored, and took photographs of it.

The "Triumph" aircraft carrier of the "Colossus" class was launched in 1946, saw combat in Korea in 1950, and by 1951 the ship had become a training vessel. In 1952, the first experiments with an angled flight deck were conducted on the carrier, after which the appearance of "Triumph" changed somewhat. In 1955, instead of the too large for the Neva River Albion aircraft carrier, the ship went to Leningrad on a friendly visit. Along with "Triumph," the cruiser "Apollo" arrived in Leningrad. This voyage became one of the last for the aircraft carrier as a training ship.

In Wikipedia it is written the following: "In 1955 she replaced HMS Albion on a 'goodwill' visit to Leningrad. This terminated in her Captain, Varyl Begg, carrying out a sternboard down the Neva against a beam gale after her hastily Soviet-laid sternbuoy had dragged."

Specifications of the R16 aircraft carrier "Triumph"

Ship length: 192 meters

Deck width: 24.4 meters

Displacement: 13,400 tons (18,300 tons at full load)

Draft: 7.2 meters (8 m at full load)

Engines: 40,000 liters

Max speed: 25 knots

Crew: 1,300 people

Armament: 37 aircraft

Aksenov wrote about this event: "My first acquaintance with modern American prose took place on a strange night in the autumn of 1955 in Leningrad. It was a night of a real flood when the water reached the sphinxes’ chins. The English aircraft carrier 'Triumph,' which was then on the Neva, had already begun lowering boats to save 'the people gripped by fear and drowning in their homes,' but there was no fear at all, and the people did not seem to be drowning; on the contrary, on this strange night some slightly nervous but lively merriment spread all over Petersburg, and there were dances everywhere."

"Once a student named Vasily was walking along Krasnoflotskaya Embankment. That year — 1955 — there was a modest flood in Leningrad, and he had to cross huge puddles. And then — just like that! — the student saw a huge ship in the middle of the river. And next to it — a smaller one. And on the masts — the British Union Jack! Right by the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge! What was this? It was that, taking advantage of the high water, the British aircraft carrier 'Triumph' arrived in the USSR on a visit. And with it — the cruiser 'Apollo' and escort ships."

And — just like in the song: 'Here on the shore they came down, fourteen English sailors crossed the gangway...' That is, there were obviously more of them. But that’s not the point! Real limeys arrived in Petersburg! Clear?! Their walk — like a boat at sea, their shoes — like little chests... And Her Majesty’s officers smoked like London dandies, smiling ironically by the doors of the Astoria, waiting either for Soviet colleagues or blue-eyed adventures..."

In eyewitness accounts: "The English ships entered the Neva before the flood, with the cruiser 'Apollo' moored between the Palace and Lieutenant Schmidt bridges (at the traditional place of the cruiser 'Kirov'), and the aircraft carrier 'Triumph' downstream to the bridges. The flood was severe; our street was ankle-deep in water with hurricane winds. Both ships were torn loose, apparently the weather forecast did not warn. If the 'Typhoon,' being more sail-like, was held by tugs, then the 'Apollo' was left without them, either there were not enough tugs or they could not pass under the bridge in such weather. The water receded by morning, and instead of going to school, I went to the embankment. The first I saw was 'Apollo,' which was almost across the river (held only by the stern buoy) and had obvious signs of impact against the embankment on the bow. Then rumors circulated that the English tried to hold the ship with two motorboats but failed, and even two English sailors died. The 'Triumph' was secured, and the tugs were waiting at the V.O. embankment for the opportunity to reach the cruiser. I remember groups of drunken sailors with pompoms on their caps and crowds of onlookers on the embankment, especially near the aircraft carrier."

On the day of the flood, part of the crew went to see the ballet "The Bronze Horseman," from which they were urgently called back to the ship because the flood had begun. In Pushkin’s poem there are lines: "...the boats break glass at the stern as they rush." Here, the aircraft carrier began to turn across the Neva, and there was a real danger that soon — the stern of the aircraft carrier would be breaking the glass... But the coordinated actions of the tugs and the crew saved the situation.

Sources:

https://www.drive2.ru/b/506066170676248719/

https://polzam.ru/index.php/istorii/item/4-avianosets-na-neve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkzJysoCVFc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Triumph_(R16)

Vasily Aksenov: Memories of Prose