In 1883, in the village of Vasilyova Sloboda, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, by decision of the board of the Kazan district of communications, state-owned workshops were organized to repair ships of the technical fleet.

It was a small semi-handicraft enterprise. Back then, its equipment consisted of only two turning machines, one boring machine, and one planer, all powered by a two-horsepower steam engine.

A little over 10 years passed, and the factory welcomed new workshop buildings, a stone forge, and a boiler room, as well as a hangar to lift watercraft ashore. Wooden shipbuilding was also developing there, giving rise to the production of boats, barges, guard ships and residential ships. In Vasilyovo, the most beautiful landing stages were launched for Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan.

The founder and first head of the Vasilyovo state-owned workshops, Richard Karlovich Masing hired Pavel Grigoryevich Chkalov, a qualified Niznhy Novgorod-based boilermaker, promising him a high salary. Pavel Chkalov was the father of Valery Chkalov — a legendary test pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union.

At the plant, Chkalov senior was entrusted with carrying out the most important orders and tasks. The memoirs of Anna Pavlovna, the pilot’s sister, read:

In the 1920s, the Vasilyov state-owned workshops grew into a large shipbuilding and ship repair plant, which was named after Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin). In the mid-20th century, due to the construction of the Gorky Hydroelectric Power Station, most of the area was flooded and the plant had to be moved to a new site. Despite this, the enterprise has become the largest in the river fleet system.