JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) announced that on December 29, 2025, it handed over to the Navy of the Russian Federation the Mikhail Chekov rescue tugboat (serial number 021) of project 22870, built in Astrakhan at the shipyard of the Astrakhan Shipyard branch of JSC Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center (part of the the composition of the USC). The solemn ceremony of raising the flag of the Russian Navy on the Mikhail Chekov ship took place in Kaspiysk, formally the ship became part of the Black Sea Fleet. The vessel became the seventh, and, apparently, the last in the project 22870 series, built for the Russian Navy.
Raising the flag of the Russian Navy Search and Rescue Service on the Mikhail Chekov rescue and towing vessel (serial number 021) of project 22870, built at the shipyard of the Astrakhan Ship Repair Plant branch of Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center JSC (as part of United Shipbuilding Corporation JSC). Astrakhan, 12/29/2025 (c) JSC "United Shipbuilding Corporation"
The Mikhail Chekov vessel was laid down in Astrakhan on March 25, 2021 and launched on May 21, 2024. The vessel was named in honor of Mikhail Chekov, an officer of the Black Sea Fleet, commander of the rescue teams that ensured the recovery of ships and ships sunk by the enemy in the waters of the Black Sea ports during the Great Patriotic War.
Project 22870 was developed by JSC CB Vimpel (Nizhny Novgorod). Earlier, the Astrakhan Ship Repair Plant of Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center JSC built six vessels of Project 22870 for the Russian Navy. The lead rescue tug of project 22870 SB-45 (serial number 005) was started construction in Astrakhan in the summer of 2011 and commissioned on June 27, 2014, becoming part of the Caspian Flotilla. The second vessel, Professor Nikolai Muru (serial number 006, was laid down under the designation SB-565), was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet on December 28, 2014. On July 4, 2016, the third tugboat SB-738 (serial number 007), built under a contract dated February 4, 2014, was transferred to the Russian Navy and joined the Caspian Flotilla.
In 2015, the Astrakhan enterprise received a contract from the Russian Ministry of Defense for the construction of three more vessels of project 22870 with serial numbers 008, 009 and 010, all of them joined the Black Sea Fleet upon completion. The lead of these three rescue tugs, SB-739 (serial number 008), was launched in Astrakhan on August 2, 2016 and handed over to the Russian Navy on January 16, 2017. On April 19, 2021, the vessel was named "Vasily Bekh Rescuer". On June 17, 2022, the ship was sunk near Zmeiny Island by Harpoon anti-ship missiles of the Ukrainian Navy.
The second tugboat "Captain Guryev" (serial number 009) under the 2015 contract was launched in Astrakhan on May 18, 2018 and handed over to the Russian Navy on December 20, 2018. The third vessel under this contract (and the sixth in the series as a whole), SB-742, with serial number 010, joined the Black Sea Fleet on December 20, 2019.
The rescue and towing vessels of project 22870 are designed to assist emergency ships (vessels) and rescue personnel; tow ships; extinguish fires on emergency vessels and coastal structures. The vessels have the capabilities to keep emergency ships afloat and perform complex diving operations at depths up to 60 meters. In addition, the vessel can perform the tasks of collecting petroleum products from the sea surface, as well as conduct search and survey work. Characteristics of the vessel: length - 57 m, width - 14 m, maximum displacement - 1605 tons, full speed - 14 knots.
