Krasnoye Sormovo Plant — a shipbuilding enterprise in the Sormovo (disambiguation) of Nizhny Novgorod, one of the oldest shipyards in the country: in July 2024 the plant celebrated its 175th anniversary.[1] Over its history it has built river and sea vessels, steam locomotives, tanks, submarines, and hydrofoil craft; today it is part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation and serves as its base facility for river-sea class vessels.[2][3]

History

The plant was founded in July 1849 on the Volga bank between the villages of Sormovo and Myshyakovka; the enterprise marked its 175th anniversary in 2024.[1] Below is a chronicle of its production.

On 21 July 1849, the company "Nizhny Novgorod Machine Factory and Volga-Kama Towage and Kedging Shipping Company" purchased a plot of land on the Volga bank between the villages of Sormovo and Myshyakovka from Kryukova, a landowner from Balakhna. Already in 1850, the first vessel was launched — the wooden paddle steamer Lastochka.

In 1860, an economic crisis broke out and the bankrupt company sold the plant to the industrialist Dmitry Benardaki. As the "Benardaki Plant," the Sormovo plant remained known until it was nationalized by the Bolsheviks.

On 4 February 1872, the joint-stock company "Sormovo" was established. The plant operated 48 workshops and seven technical bureaus. Thanks to its achievements and efficiency, the plant received major defense orders from the government.

From 1898, the plant began producing steam locomotives.

In 1920, the plant built the first tanks in Russia.

During the war, the plant was awarded the rotating Red Banner of the State Defense Committee. The workers' labor kept that banner for 33 consecutive months. This is the only such case in the entire history of the Great Patriotic War.

From 23 February 1930, production of submarines began.

Among the submarines produced was the S-13, commanded by Captain Marinesco, which sank the transport ship Wilhelm Gustloff.

After the war, owing to advances in technology and the military-technical competition with America, as well as the technology and equipment obtained from Germany following the latter's defeat, the pace of submarine construction increased still further.

In total, 275 combat submarines were built at the enterprise, including 26 nuclear-powered ones.

In 1933, the plant was among the first in the country to switch to all-welded hulls.

The renowned designer of high-speed vessels and ekranoplans, Rostislav Alekseev, began his career at the plant.

Civilian shipbuilding resumed on 27 May 1947 with the laying of the motor vessel Bolshaya Volga, after which dry cargo ships, tankers, tugs, and ferries were built. The flagship vessels of the Volga passenger fleet were developed and built here — the diesel-electric ships Lenin and Sovetsky Soyuz.

In 1955, the first industrial continuous steel casting installation in the USSR was created at Krasnoye Sormovo.

In August 1957, the first passenger hydrofoil vessel, Raketa-1, was launched. Later, high-speed craft were built for both rivers and seas — Chayka, Meteor, Burevestnik, Kometa, and others. The plant's leading position in hydrofoil development (at the time) brought it worldwide fame and recognition.

During the War Years

From July 1941, the plant launched production of T-34 tanks and ammunition.[4] In March 1945, the ten-thousandth Sormovo-built T-34 rolled off the assembly line.[4]

For this work, the enterprise received the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Patriotic War, First Class, while more than 600 workers, engineers, and technicians were awarded orders and medals.[4] The symbols of wartime Sormovo — M-13 Katyusha shells, T-34 tanks, and submarines S-102 and S-13 — are depicted on the side of the "Victory Carriage," a Nizhny Novgorod tram that began running in August 2024.[4]

The 1970 Radiation Accident

On 18 January 1970, in the workshop where the nuclear submarine K-320 of Project 670 Skat was under construction, an unauthorized reactor startup occurred: the reactor ran at excessive power for fifteen seconds, and workers were killed in the reactor compartment.[6] The release amounted to 75,000 curies; radiation levels exceeded the norm by thousands of times, and there were no dosimeters in the workshop.[6]

Decontamination was carried out by more than eight hundred people working in three shifts over three months, scrubbing the premises with soap and water; radioactive runoff drained into the Volga.[6] The participants received no awards or special status; the survivors formed an organization called "January 70," which spent many years seeking recognition and compensation payments.[6]

Industrial Heritage

The plant's grounds are themselves a monument of industrial architecture: twelve of its structures hold the status of regional cultural heritage sites.[5] Among them are the factory administration building on Barrikad Street, a rolling mill of 1892, a locomotive assembly workshop of 1893, a central boiler house of 1897, a wheel-rolling workshop of 1907, and an electrical substation of 1916; nearby stand the Church of Alexander Nevsky from the late 19th–early 20th century, a tenement house of 1898, a parish school building of 1902–1903, and two residential buildings of 1927 on Kominterna Street.[5]

In September 2023, the ANO "ASIRIS" released a virtual guide to these sites, bringing together key facts about the plant as well as an account of the Sormovo workers' uprising.[5]

The Plant Today

Krasnoye Sormovo is part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation and builds river-sea class vessels under the unified "Platform No. 1."[2][3] In June 2023, the plant concluded a contract with the State Transport Leasing Company for 34 dry cargo ships of the RSD59 project: the first ten were to be delivered by the end of 2024, the next twelve by September 2025, and the final twelve by January 2027. This is the sixth joint series since 2015: before it, the two organizations built around fifty vessels worth 61.1 billion rubles.[7]

In 2026, the plant became the pilot site for the federal project "Digital Shipbuilding Production": the implemented system allows the entire construction cycle to be tracked in real time — from the order portfolio to quality control — shift supervisors record daily work assignments digitally, and procurement is synchronized with the work schedule.[2][3] Modernization is proceeding in parallel: equipment upgrades, automation, and robotization in preparation for a transition to large-block flow-line construction.[3]

Sources

  1. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Sergey Plyaskin congratulates the Krasnoye Sormovo team on the plant's 175th anniversary (19 July 2024) (archive)
  2. Newsroom24 — The Krasnoye Sormovo Plant selected as pilot site for the federal project "Digital Shipbuilding Production" (25 August 2026) (archive)
  3. Vzglyad-NN — USC implements digital production management platform at Krasnoye Sormovo (25 August 2026) (archive)
  4. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — A new "Victory Carriage" dedicated to the history of the Krasnoye Sormovo Plant begins running in Nizhny Novgorod (28 August 2024) (archive)
  5. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Virtual guide to the historic buildings of the Krasnoye Sormovo Plant (6 September 2023)
  6. nn.aif.ru — AiF — Nizhny Novgorod — Liquidators of the nuclear reactor accident, members of the "January 70" society, recall the tragedy at Krasnoye Sormovo (21 January 2008)
  7. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Krasnoye Sormovo to build 34 dry cargo ships under contract with the STLC (15 June 2023) (archive)