AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH research vessel

[aukepalmhof]

There is no doubt that the ship shown on this stamp is AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH. However, the stamp designer has used a mirror image of the vessel - showing the port side of the ship as the starboard side. From the photographs I have posted you will see that the starboard side has a large open area below the lifeboat, just in front of the MIR submersible housings.

AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH keel laid down on 07 July 1978 and was launched by Hollming Oy of Rauma, in Finland on 28 December 1980 for P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology and operated by the Russian Academy of Science. She entered service on 15 March 1981. Her homeport is Kaliningrad, Russia.

Displacement: 6,240 tons
Length: 122.2 meters (400 ft 11 in)
Beam: 17.82 meters (58 ft 5.6 in)
Height: 10.4 meters (34 ft 1.4 in)
Draft: 5.89 meters (19 ft 3.9 in)
Installed power: (4) diesel engines, 5,840 HP each built by Wartsila/Vasa
Has bow and stern thrusters.
Speed: 12.5 knots max, 10.5 cruise
Range: 20,000 kilometers (12,427 mi)
Endurance: 303 days
Boats and landing craft carried: Mir DSVs
Complement 90 IMO No 7811018

AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH is a Russian scientific research vessel. It is best known as the support vessel of the MIR submersibles. The vessel, named after the Russian mathematician Mstislav Keldysh, has made over 50 voyages and usually has 90 people on board (45 crew members, 20 or more pilots, engineers and technicians, 10 to 12 scientists and about 12 passengers). Among its facilities are 17 laboratories and a library. The Mir submersibles were added to her equipment in 1987. It is equipped with sophisticated satellite navigation and communication equipment. To support submersibles and instrumentation, the ship has 15 winches, 4 cranes and an A-Frame.

The largest workspaces on the ship are dedicated to supporting the MIR I and MIR II submersibles. The AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH was converted to support these submersibles in 1987. The MIRs are the heart of the AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH, and its equipment and crew are optimized to support these deep-diving submersibles. Specialized launch-and-recovery cranes are used to lift the MIRs in and out of the water. Small boats tow them away from the ship and divers jump into the water, no matter how frigid, to release the tow lines. Aboard the ship, large "hangar" doors cover the MIRs to protect them from the elements.

The scientists and ship personnel on board are split into "watches" so that a crew of people is always working, collecting data and managing the ship, 24 hours a day. The mess serves meals and snacks to the hungry crew and scientists. Recreational facilities include a lounge, library, and exercise room.

AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH was involved in the search for Soviet submarine K-278 Komsomolets, lost off the south eastern coast of Norway in 1989 after fire broke out on board. In addition to its nuclear reactor's core material, the submarine was carrying two nuclear torpedoes. Concern over the potential effects of the high-energy nuclear material on the rich fishing areas in which it lay prompted an effort to locate the sub's wreckage and ascertain its condition. Two months after the sinking, AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH located the wreckage of K-278 in June 1989 and Soviet governmental representatives labeled the risk of leaks to be "insignificant." Nevertheless, AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH mounted two expeditions to the wreck of K-278 (1994 and 1996) to seal fractures in the sub's hull.

Among recent voyages, the AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH has made expeditions to two famous wrecks, the British liner Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck. Filmmaker James Cameron led two of those expeditions: to the Titanic in 1996, leaving Kaliningrad in August, then to the Bismarck in 2002. In 1996 Cameron filmed the modern-day scenes for his film Titanic using the AKADEMIK MSTISLAV KELDYSH. About ten years later, in 2005 Cameron used her to film the Aliens of the Deep.

Russia 1980 15k sg5058, scott? Russia 1999 sgMS6758, scott?

Sources: Wikipedia and various internet sites.

Peter Crichton