Russian shipbuilders held a ceremony of launching a new patrol ship of the project 22160. He became the fourth representative of the series.
Yesterday, the Kerch shipbuilding enterprise "Bay" (Republic of Crimea) held a solemn ceremony of launching the fourth patrol ship of the project 22160 "Sergey Kotov", built for the Russian Navy. The ceremony was attended by the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, Admiral Alexander Vitko, and the head of the Crimea, Sergey Aksenov.
According to the plans, the ship can be transferred to the Russian Navy by the end of 2021. "Sergey Kotov" will have to be part of the Black Sea Fleet.
"Sergey Kotov»
Image source: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
The patrol ship "Sergey Kotov" was formally laid down at the Zelenodolsk plant named after A.M. Gorky on May 8, 2016, but was de facto built in Kerch. The lead ship of the series - "Vasily Bykov" - was laid down in 2014 and handed over to the customer in 2018.
"Sergey Kotov»
Source image: Kreisform
In total, it is planned to build six such ships. Now at the Zelenodolsk plant in the slipway stage of construction are the last two representatives of the project 22160: "Victor the Great" and "Nikolai Sipyagin". All six ships of the project 22160 will serve in the Black Sea Fleet.
"Sergey Kotov»
Source image: Kreisform
The ship of the project 22160 is designed, in particular, for patrolling territorial waters, combating smuggling and pirates, as well as conducting search and rescue operations. The ship has a displacement of 1,800 tons, a length of 94 meters, and a width of 14 meters. The crew consists of 28 people (up to 80 people with additional crew members).
"Sergey Kotov»
Image source: TASS
The artillery armament of the project 22160 consists of a 76.2-mm universal shipboard artillery system AK-176MA. It is possible to install modular tactical strike container weapons: Kalibr cruise missiles or anti-ship "Uran" X-35U. According to open sources, now the Russian navy does not use this option, widely using only diving modules from container equipment.
©NTS Sevastopol
Today, the planned re-equipment of the surface component of the Russian Navy continues. In December, the fleet was replenished with a new corvette "Gremyashchy" — the first ship of the project 20385. It is assumed that in the foreseeable future it will be able to use hypersonic missiles "Zircon".
In 2021 [...], tests of the upgraded cruiser Admiral Nakhimov-potentially the most powerful Russian surface ship — are due to start. In the process of modernization, it was equipped with 80 unified UKSK 3S14 launchers, which allow launching, in particular, the above-mentioned "Zircons".