On June 9, 2023, the laying ceremony for the Russian Navy corvette "Zealous" (factory number 2110) of project 20385 took place at PJSC "Amur Shipbuilding Plant" (ASZ, part of JSC "United Shipbuilding Corporation" - USC) in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. This is the fourth and last corvette of project 20385, which is being built at this enterprise.
The mortgage board of the corvette "Zealous" (factory number 2110) of project 20385 (c) Telegram channel "Zapiski Midshipman Ptichkin" laid down on 06/09/2023 for the Russian Navy at PJSC Amur Shipbuilding Plant (ASZ, part of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation)
The solemn ceremony of laying the ship was attended by the Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Mikhail Degtyarev and the commander of the Pacific Fleet Admiral Viktor Liina.
Initially, the name "Zealous" was worn by the corvette of project 20380 with the factory number 1007, laid down on February 20, 2015 in St. Petersburg at PJSC Shipbuilding Plant Severnaya Verf. However, in October 2021, it was renamed Mercury and under this new name entered service with the Russian Navy on May 13, 2023.
On December 15, 2020, the Amur Shipbuilding Plant signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense for the construction of six corvettes for the Pacific Fleet - two of Project 20380 and four of project 20385, which should be commissioned from 2024 to 2028. The corvettes of project 20380 received factory numbers 2105 and 2106, and the corvettes of project 20385 received factory numbers 2107 to 2110.
On August 23, 2021, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Russian Navy for the first two corvettes under this contract - "Grozny" (factory number 2105) of project 20380 and "Buiny" (factory number 2107) of project 20385, which became, respectively, the fifth corvette of project 20380 and the first corvette of project 20385, being built at this enterprise.. On September 29, 2021, the laying of the second corvette "Brave" (factory number 2106) of project 20380, which will become the sixth and last corvette of project 20380 of the Far Eastern construction, took place at the ASZ.
On June 12, 2022, the laying ceremony of the corvette "Reasonable" (factory number 2108) took place at the ASZ, and on July 1, 2022 - the corvette "Fast" (factory number 2109) of project 20385, which became the second and third ships of project 20385.
To date, the ASZ has carried out the construction of four Project 20380 corvettes for the Pacific Fleet under previous contracts. The designer of all corvettes of the family 20380 and 20385 is JSC "CMKB "Almaz".
The corvette "Zealous" (factory number 2110), now laid down at the ASZ, became the sixth overall in the series of the project 20385 ship. We would like to point out that after the construction of the first few corvettes of Project 20380 at PJSC Shipbuilding Plant Severnaya Verf in St. Petersburg and at the ASZ, further construction of corvettes for the Russian Navy was supposed to be carried out according to the redesigned project 20385. The state contract for the construction of the first two corvettes of Project 20385 was issued by the Russian Ministry of Defense to the Northern Shipyard on March 27, 2006, both ships were intended for the Pacific Fleet. The lead ship of project 20385 "Gremyashchy" (factory number 1005) was laid down at the Northern Shipyard on February 1, 2012, removed from the boathouse of the enterprise on June 16, 2017, launched on June 30, 2017, began factory sea trials on April 21, 2019 and was commissioned by the Russian Navy only on December 29, 2020 with enlistment in the Pacific Fleet. On November 30, 2021, the corvette "Gremyashchy" arrived in Vladivostok.
The second corvette of project 20385 "Agile" (factory number 1006) was laid down at the Northern Shipyard on July 25, 2013. In September 2019, its technical launching was carried out, but then the hull of the ship was again raised to the slipway. On December 17-18, 2021, a fire occurred at the Nimble corvette under construction at the Northern Shipyard, which almost completely destroyed the superstructure of the ship, as a result of which the readiness of the corvette is now postponed to about 2026.
Under an additional contract signed with the Ministry of Defense in 2011, it was planned to build eight more Project 20385 corvettes at the Northern Shipyard by 2020, but the widespread use of imported components on this project, including German MTU main diesel engines, which fell under sanctions restrictions after 2014, led to the fact that the project 20385 series on the Northern the shipyard was limited to only two ships laid down under the contract in 2006.
The construction of both corvettes laid down at the Northern Shipyard of Project 20385 was greatly delayed due to the non-delivery of the main MTU diesel engines for them. On January 30, 2015, the Russian Ministry of Defense concluded an additional agreement with the Northern Shipyard for the completion of both corvettes of Project 20385 with Russian-made diesel engines - diesel units 1DDA-12000 produced by JSC Kolomenskoye Zavod, installed on corvettes of project 20380. Each corvette received two diesel units, one unit 1DDA-12000 includes two main marine engines 16D49 with a capacity of 6000 hp produced by the Kolomna Plant and reverse gear transmission RD 12000, produced by JSC "Zvezda".
Since the further construction of the project 20385 series was discontinued, as a result, the Russian Navy returned to the construction of Project 20380 corvettes according to the once again corrected project, with the installation of a new multifunctional radar complex "Zaslon" with the placement of fixed antennas in a tower-like superstructure, similar to the corvettes of project 20385.
As a result, however, it was decided to resume simultaneously the construction of a series of corvettes of project 20385, but in execution with Russian-made engines, as a result of which in December 2020 the above contract was signed with ASZ for the construction of four corvettes of project 20385. Now the main difference between the 20385 project and the 20380 is the equipment of the 20385 project with the 3S14 universal ship firing complex (UKSK), which allows the use of Kalibr family missiles, including the 91P anti-submarine series of the Response complex.
The laying ceremony for the Russian Navy at the Amur Shipbuilding Plant PJSC (ASZ, part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation JSC) of the Zealous corvette (factory number 2110) of project 20385. The banner depicts the corvette "Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov" of project 20380 (factory number 2103), previously built by ASZ. Komsomolsk-on-Amur, 09.06.2023 (c) JSC "United Shipbuilding Corporation"
