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Construction stopped by 1992 with the ship structurally complete but without electronics. Ownership was transferred to Ukraine as the Soviet Union broke up and the ship was laid up unmaintained, then stripped. In early 1998, she lacked engines, a rudder, and much of her operating systems. She was put up for auction.
In April, Ukrainian Trade Minister Roman Shprek announced the winning bid -- US$20 million from a small Hong Kong company called the Chong Lot Travel Agency Ltd. Chong Lot proposed to tow Varyag out of the Black Sea, through the Suez Canal and around southern Asia to Macao, where they would moor the ship and convert it into a floating hotel and gambling parlor.
However, considerable evidence suggested that the future of Varyag is linked to the People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China PRC comprises most of the cultural, historic, and geographic area known as China. Since its founding in 1949, it has been led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is the world's most populous country, with a population's People's Liberation Army NavyPeople's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is the naval arm of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the military of the People's Republic of China. Until the early 1990s, the navy performed a subordinate role to the PLA land forces. The PLAN also includes 35,000 (PLAN) and its program to develop an aircraft carrier.
Before the auction was closed, officials in MacauThe Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China short form Macau or Macao (see Names), is a small territory on the southern coast of China. It is 70 km southwest of Hong Kong and 145 km from Guangzhou. It was the oldest European had warned Chong Lot that they would not be permitted to park Varyag in the harbor. The sale was carried out anyway. Chong Lot is owned by a Hong Kong firm called Chin Luck (Holdings) Company. Four of Chin Luck's six board members live in YantaiYantai ( s. Pinyin: Yntai), a Prefecture-level city in the People's Republic of China, is the largest fishing seaport of the northeastern Shandong Province and a nationally recognized centre of economy. Located at 37°24'N and 121°16'E Yantai's old Western, ChinaThis article is on the geographic and cultural entity. For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some oute where a major Chinese Navy shipyard is located. Chin Luck's chairman is a former career military officer with the People's Liberation ArmyAlternate meaning: Shining Path The People's Liberation Army (PLA; Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , pinyin: Renmin Jiefang Jun), including strategic nuclear forces, an army, navy and air force, serves as the military of the People's Republic o. However, the large involvement of former PLA officers is not necessarily a sign that the firm is a cover organization, because, for historical reasons, it is not unusual in mainland China for a company that actually is involved in tourism or travel to be controlled by former PLA officers.
However, the People's Republic of China's interest in Varyag is puzzling. Due to the poor condition of the hulk, it is thought highly unlikely that the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) will commission the carrier; rather, many analysts suggest that the PLAN intends to examine the carrier as a model for an indigenous carrier to be built later. Others counter that the carrier does not represent modern technology; the PLAN could probably have learned all they needed from Varyag without towing it all the way to China.
In mid- 2000, a Dutch tug with a Filipino crew was hired to take Varyag under tow. However, Chong Lot could not get permission from Turkey to transit the dangerous Bosporus strait - in addition to safety issues, the Montreux Treaty of 1936 does not allow aircraft carriers to pass the Dardanelles - and the hulk spent 16 months circling in the Black Sea. High-level PRC government ministers conducted negotiations in Ankara on Chong Lot's behalf, offering to allow Chinese tourists to visit cash-strapped Turkey if the travel agency's ship were allowed to pass through the straits. On 1 November 2001, Turkey finally relented from its position that the vessel posed too great of a danger to the bridges of Istanbul, and allowed the transit.
Escorted by 27 vessels including 11 tug boats and three pilot boats, Varyag took six hours to transit the strait; most large ships take an hour and a half. The Russian press reported that 16 pilots and 250 seamen were involved. At 11:45am on 2 November, she completed her passage and made for Gallipoli and Çanakkale at 5.8 knots. She passed through the Dardanelles without incident.
On 3 November, Varyag was caught in a force 9 gale and broke adrift while passing the Aegean island of Skyros. Turkish and Greek sea rescue workers tried to re-capture the hulk, which was drifting toward the island of Evia . The seven-member crew (three Russians, three Ukrainians and one Filipino) remained on board as six tugboats tried to reestablish their tow. However, after many failed attempts to reattach the lines, a Greek coast guard rescue helicopter landed on Varyag and picked up four of the seven crew. One tug managed to make a line fast to the ship later in the day, but high winds severely hampered efforts by two other tugs to secure the ship. On 6 November, Aries Lima (reported as both Dutch and Portuguese), a sailor from the tug Haliva Champion, died after a fall while attempting to reattach the tow ropes. On 7 November, the hulk was taken back under tow and progress resumed at some three knots.
The Suez Canal does not permit passage of "dead" ships - those without power - so the hulk was towed through the Straits of Gibraltar, around the Cape of Good Hope, and through the Straits of Malacca. The tugs towing the hulk maintained an average speed of 6 knots over the 15,200 nautical mile journey, calling for bunkers and supplies at Piraeus, Greece, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Maputo, Mozambique, and Singapore en route. They entered Chinese waters on 20 February 2002, and arrived 3 March at Dalian Shipyard in northeastern China. China continued to assert that Varyag will be a casino. However, when Macau awarded new casino licenses in February 2002, Chong Lot was not among successful bidders. The total cost of acquiring the hulk was over $US30 million - $US25 million to the Ukrainian government for the hull, nearly US$500,000 in transit fees, and some US$5 million for the towing.