Far Eastern border guards received the newest ice-class patrol ship
The first week of the second autumn month was marked by a solemn event: the newest border patrol ship "Anadyr" was met in Avacha Bay. It became the third building in a row, built according to the 22100 "Ocean" project at the Zelenodolsk Plant named after A.M. Gorky, located on the banks of the Volga. The Anadyr was conducted to the Baltic Sea via inland waterways. From there he proceeded to Murmansk, completed the passage along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and safely reached Kamchatka.
The ship, named in honor of the Chukchi capital, will be engaged in the protection of water areas as part of the Border Control unit of the Border Department of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB of the Russian Federation) in the eastern Arctic region.
"I am sure that with the arrival of a ship of this class, the capabilities of the border department for the protection and protection of the state border, the protection of marine biological resources, will certainly increase," the head of the border department, Lieutenant General Alexey Trubetskoy, addressed the audience at the meeting of the new Pskov region. His words are quoted by the local news agency "Chukotka".
"Ocean" occupies a special place in the domestic shipbuilding. The fact is that it is the only project of an ice–class border ship of the far sea zone in the entire history. It is specially designed to solve specific tasks assigned to the FSB of the Russian Federation for the protection of vast water spaces, taking into account the severe climatic conditions of the North.
The 22100 project belongs to the so-called ice class, and the "Polar Star" (adopted by the customer in 2016), "Petropavlovsk–Kamchatsky" (2019) and "Anadyr" (2023) built according to it are ships of the 1st rank. The standard displacement is 2700 tons, the full displacement is 3200 tons. The length of the hull is about 92 m, the width is almost 15 m, but the draft is small – about 3.5 m, otherwise the UCR could not be conducted by inland waterways.
PREDECESSOR
Earlier, the FSB of the Russian Federation had even larger ships of Project 11351 "Nereus" with a standard displacement of 3170 tons and a full 3540 tons. With a close value of the total displacement, the hull of the Nereus is 31 m longer and 1-1.5 m narrower than that of the Ocean.
In the period from 1981 to 1993, eight Nereevs were built at the B.E. Butoma Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, seven of them served Russian border guards. The last in the series "Hetman Sagaidachny" served as the flagship of the Navy of Ukraine (VMSU), until in March 2023 it was flooded by its crew in the port of the city of Nikolaev.
Russian ships have served a little more. In April of this year, the last pair of Project 11351 PCRs – "Eagle" and "Dzerzhinsky" - was withdrawn from the operating list.
Shipbuilders claim that the "Polar Star", "Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky" and "Anadyr" are designed to replace the "Nereus"-type PSCR. However, it is difficult to call such a replacement direct, if only because project 11351 does not belong to ice-class ships.
According to the terms of reference of the KGB and the USSR Navy, project 11351 was set for development by the Northern Design Bureau (SPKB) as a PSCR based on the existing hull, main mechanisms and main equipment of the anti-submarine ship (BOD) of the 2nd rank of Project 1135 "Burevestnik". From him, the borderline version of the BOD retained a fairly strong anti-submarine armament (a pair of RBU-6000 rocket launchers, a pair of four-tube torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber, a powerful sonar system with a towed device). This, in fact, put the strozhevik-border guard in a kind of reserve of the Navy in case he did not have enough specialized BOD.
The most important difference between the Nereus and the basic project was the presence of a large hangar and a landing pad for the Ka-27PS helicopter. The place for them was freed by removing the missile and torpedo complex "Metel" and reducing the artillery to one AK-100 turret with a 100 mm cannon and a pair of AK-630M 30 mm machine guns.
As a result, project 11351 did not receive long-range missiles (but only short-range anti-aircraft missiles of the Osa-M type for self-defense against enemy air attack), but had powerful search facilities. The outdated MR-310 radar gave way to a modern Frigate-type radar, and the MG-332/MG–325 sonar complex gave way to the more advanced MGK-335/MGK-345.
As it became clear during operation, the presence of a heavy helicopter (take-off weight of 12 tons) on board the RCMP, capable of transporting paratroopers or carrying weapons of destruction, turned out to be the most effective means of combating border violators.
After the collapse of the USSR, the Russian Federation was gripped by a systemic crisis, which caused an increase in the number of people willing to engage in illegal fishing in our territorial waters. Boats and yachts of intruders began to operate under the cover of fishing vessels. Often they developed a higher speed than the ships of the border guards, and then it was necessary to put into operation aviation – deck helicopters Ka-27PS.
NEW PROJECTS
In a word, the rotorcraft has in fact proved the need for its presence on board the RSCR. Therefore, when the question arose about the design of next-generation border ships, the requirement for a full-fledged hangar and helipad became mandatory. But the anti-submarine and artillery armament of the Nereus was considered excessive and decided to "exchange" it for improving seaworthiness and the possibility of ice navigation.
It should be noted that at the end of the last century, the SPKB offered the customer an icebreaker-class border ship capable of overcoming meter-thick ice. Work on Project 10590 began in 1985, with the aim of protecting the Northern Sea Route. With a displacement of 7,500 tons, it carried powerful weapons, including the Ka-27 helicopter. However, the customer considered its parameters redundant, and he was offered a revised project 10592 with a smaller displacement. There was also no money for its implementation, but the designers accumulated some experience in designing ice-class ships, which was useful to them later.
The main task of the designers of the Nereus was to create a ship to ensure control over the 200-mile economic sea zone of the Soviet Union, which, if necessary, could conduct anti-submarine warfare together with the ships of the Navy. Those who were involved in the 22100 project received a slightly different task. Seaworthiness requirements have increased. The new PCR is intended to protect the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of the Russian Federation with the possibility of patrolling "distant sea and ocean zones".
Active interaction with the Navy and the use of the existing hull of the warship was no longer required. Therefore, the designers started work from scratch in order to fully take into account all the wishes of the border guards serving in the Far North and the Far East. As you know, the ships and vessels of the FSB of the Russian Federation in the eastern Arctic region protect more than 16 thousand km of the state border.
The topic was assigned to the Central Marine Design Bureau "Almaz". The development of the ship began in 2009, and a couple of years later they switched to full-fledged design. The design includes the possibility of an ice course – up to 80 cm of the surface of the ice field. The autonomy was increased to 60 days (twice as long as that of the Nereus), the cruising range was up to 12 thousand miles.
The ship was created as a multifunctional, with the potential for further development. According to the customer's requirement, the equipment and armament of the PCR should be sufficient to combat pirates and terrorists, illegal migration and drug trafficking, to prevent smuggling, as well as participation in search and rescue operations, in extinguishing fires on ships, towing and escorting emergency swimming vehicles to places of shelter.
A significant discrepancy in the requirements of the customer when designing the "Nereus" and "Ocean" explains the fact that the latter carries much fewer weapons. It is completely devoid of missiles and torpedoes (the designers, however, claim that they provided for the possibility of their installation at the request of the customer), and the artillery is reduced to one three-inch AK-176M cannon and a pair of 14.5 mm Vladimirov machine guns. As before, there is a hangar and a landing pad for the Ka-27PS helicopter, but now it can be accompanied by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of the Gorizont G-Air S-100 helicopter type.
COMFORT AND ENERGY
Ensuring a huge cruising range (12 thousand miles) and autonomy (60 days) required a radical revision of the attitude to the power plant and the issues of providing comfort to seafarers. The household and office premises of the Ocean are designed to provide good living conditions during a long hike, taking into account the hard service.
This was made possible by reducing the number of crew from almost 200 officers and sailors on the Nerea to 44 FSB officers on the Ocean (while the latter can take on board fighters of special units to combat terrorism and piracy). The cabins of the new PSCR are designed for two people, each of which has a bathroom. There are also two desalinators that will provide round-the-clock hot and cold water supply throughout the service.
Thanks to these and other measures, the designers have provided a level of comfort much higher than on the "Nerea", additionally reinforcing it with better stability of the "Ocean".
Afterburner and mainline gas turbines on the Nereus (the legacy of warships) were abandoned in favor of not so light and pick-up, but much more economical diesels. At the same time, the full speed predictably dropped by 10 knots, to 21.
The initial project provided for the use of German diesel engines of type 16V4000M90 of the MTU company driven by propellers through ZF brand gearboxes. After the coup d'etat in Kiev and the holding of a referendum in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, the government in Berlin joined the sanctions of the collective West against Russia. Therefore, domestic developments have replaced foreign components. The main power plant now includes 16D49 diesels manufactured by the Kolomna Plant and Zvezda gearboxes.
series
The construction of the lead ship of the 22100 project began in 2012, and five years later the Polar Star arrived at its duty station in Murmansk. Then, according to the corrected project (with the replacement of German diesels and gearboxes with a domestic power plant), Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was built in three years.
The laying of the third building dates back to April 28, 2017, launching – June 14, 2019. Built at the Zelenodolsk plant named after Gorky's "Anadyr" passed through inland waterways for retrofitting at the Kronstadt Marine Plant. Acceptance by the customer on August 16, 2023, the Russian flag was raised over the ship.
According to media reports, it was planned to build five ships, but so far nothing has been heard about laying the remaining pair of hulls. It is possible that in the light of the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine, the previously drawn up plans of shipbuilders are subject to correction. The needs of the Black Sea Fleet come to the fore. For him, small rocket ships of the project 22800 "Karakurt" are being built in Zelenodolsk, the dimensions of which allow wiring by inland waterways to the theater of military operations.
A few years ago at the same plant named after Gorky was built a series of four guided missile corvettes (anti-ship complex "Uranus" and anti-aircraft "Palm"), known under the marketing designation "Cheetah". They went down the Volga and through the channels to the Black Sea, and from there made the transition to the Pacific Ocean. Given the real possibilities of the domestic shipbuilding industry and their development of a completely modern project, it seems logical to build similar corvettes in Zelenodolsk for the needs of the Black Sea Fleet, and to assemble guardships for the Far East somewhere else.
Vyacheslav Ivanov
Vyacheslav Viktorovich Ivanov is a military expert and historian.
