Nuclear-powered vessel visits Table Bay

Visits to South Africa by nuclear-propelled vessels invariably seem to be caught up in last minute hiccups – and so it was with the Russian battle cruiser, Pyotr Veliky, which sailed serenely into Table Bay on Monday (January 12). As was the case with the giant US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in October – the first nuclear ship to visit the Mother City port in more than 30 years – the necessary licence required by the National Energy Regulator was late in being issued. Apparently it had not met certain legal requirements, hinging mainly around safety assurances in the event of a nuclear mishap. The City of Cape Town had, in the case of the Roosevelt, put together a comprehensive safety plan. Application for the impressive war machine to enter the port of Cape Town to gather food and other supplies and give the 1 000-member crew a shore break had been requested by the SA Navy at the behest of the Russian Federation Navy on December 4. Harbour master, Captain Ravi Naicker, told FTW the two-tug berthing of the Veliky, one of the world’s largest nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers, went off without a hitch at the Eastern Mole. She did not visit any other South African ports. Vadim Amelin, operations supervisor for agents Trade Ocean Shipping, said the cruiser was on its way from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, that is from South America to India. * The ship is named after 6Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia.