The missile-carrying frigate Admiral Grigorovich returned to the Mediterranean
On the morning of November 29, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MO RF) reported that a guided missile frigate (FR URO) fired 4 Kalibr-NK missiles at objects of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). The crew received the order to open fire suddenly, and, despite the storm in the Black Sea, successfully hit all designated targets.
And a few days earlier, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation spread the news that the FR URO Admiral Grigorovich had returned to the shores of Syria. In a message dated November 22, the military department disclosed information that the frigate "has resumed its tasks in the eastern Mediterranean Sea." Weapons and technical means are functioning normally, the crew is on duty according to the marching schedule.
From 12 to 14 November, the ship was in Algeria. There, the frigate replenished supplies to the established standards, and rest was organized for the crew. Officers of the Russian Navy took part in protocol meetings with the command of the naval area of the Algerian Navy, the naval base and the management of the port of Algiers. This served as "another step to strengthen and develop naval cooperation between the two countries," the Russian Defense Ministry says. The news of the Grigorovich's return to the Mediterranean group of the Russian Navy in Ukraine was received with disappointment. In Kiev, it was hoped that during the previous campaign the frigate had suffered serious damage and would require long-term repairs. In fact, upon completion of service in the far sea zone, Grigorovich had to undergo maintenance in factory conditions.
The fact that the frigate did not have any serious damage is also evidenced by the fact that it independently completed the transition from the Mediterranean Sea to the Baltic.
In May of this year, the state news agency ITAR-TASS, citing an industry source, reported that Grigorovich had arrived in Baltiysk to undergo scheduled repairs. The work was carried out by the staff of the Baltic Shipbuilding Plant "Yantar", where the ship was built by order of the military department and was accepted by the customer in 2016.
Grigorovich became the first in the three FR URO built according to project 11356 for the needs of the Black Sea Fleet (Black Sea Fleet) The Russian Navy in the period from 2010 to 2017. It also includes Admiral Makarov and Admiral Essen, commissioned in 2016-2018 and currently performing tasks within the framework of a special military operation in Ukraine. The track record of these ships includes numerous trips to sea to regulate navigation in the Black Sea, to prevent the activation of the enemy on Zmeiny Island and, most importantly, to launch long–range cruise missiles of the Kalibr–PL complex at AFU facilities. The fire damage to another group of targets on the night of November 28-29 was inflicted by Makarov or Essen.
Numerous enemy attempts to disable these frigates with anti-ship missiles, unmanned naval boats (BMCs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have failed. In one of the TV reports on Russian television, it was shown how the Essen performed a pair launch of anti-aircraft missiles of the Shtil complex against a Bayraktar TB2 type UAV of Turkish design and production from the unmanned aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and hit the target at a safe distance, where its own weapons could not harm the Russian frigate.
Speaking at the opening of the board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on November 21, the head of the military department, Sergei Shoigu, in particular, said with regard to the Navy that the number of carriers of high-precision long-range weapons by the end of the year will be more than 40 units. "Modern missile weapons have proven highly effective during a special military operation," Shoigu claimed. - More than 270 missile strikes have been carried out, more than 330 objects have been hit."
Together with the FR URO of project 11356, guard ships (TFR) operate on the Black Sea – "Ladny" of project 1135 (built in 1980) and "Inquisitive" of project 1135M (1981), which are described in detail in the publication "Grain carriers will protect "Ladny" and "Inquisitive" ("HBO" dated 09/14/2013).
After the death last year of the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the cruiser Moskva, this "four" acts as the largest surface ships of the Russian Navy in the theater of operations (Theater of Operations). Soviet-built TFRs perform all the same tasks as the FR URO of project 11356, with the exception of launching "Calibers", which are not included in their armament.
When, as part of the efforts to update the Black Sea Fleet, the highest military and political leadership of Russia decided to choose the most suitable project for a modern frigate, considerations of continuity, uniformity and ensuring high serial production were taken into account. Despite the active work being carried out at that time on the FR URO of the next generation (project 22350), a different option was chosen for the Black Sea – the improved project 11356, according to which by that time six frigates had been built at domestic shipyards for the Republic of India.
In fact, the 1135(M) and 11356 projects use the same hull and power plant (although with some improvements taking into account many years of production and operation experience), and new weapons (including Kalibr–NK and Shtil missile systems). While maintaining the good driving performance and autonomy of their predecessors, the ships of Project 11356 significantly outperform them in terms of firepower.
Note that the main power plant (GEU) of the ships of projects 1135, 1135M and 11356 has a lot in common. It is a gas turbine, consists of two main and two afterburner units. Mainline turbines are used for economic travel (14 knots), afterburners – for a "jerk" into the zone (with acceleration up to 32 knots), where an enemy submarine is detected, and when "chasing" enemy ships.
The GEU contains complex gearboxes and attachments to them, two-stage depreciation of the main mechanisms. During the repairs, the main turbo-toothed units (GTA) of the M7 type (with afterburner turbines DK59 and mainline M62) on the ships of the 1135 project of early construction were changed to more advanced M7N1 (with DT59 and DS71, respectively). Similar GTA are used in the buildings of the improved project 11356.
As well as the other aforementioned FR and TFR projects 1135(M) and 11356, Admiral Grigorovich is also assigned to the Black Sea Fleet. Before the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the naval command took him through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits to perform tasks in the Eastern Mediterranean. Shortly after the start of the special operation, Turkey, referring to the 1936 Montreux Convention, announced the closure of the straits to all warships until the cessation of hostilities. Actually, that is why Grigorovich cannot return to its home port of Sevastopol.
The situation is similar for other ships of the Black Sea Fleet, which were located outside the Black Sea at the time of the start of their operation. Among them is the newest minesweeper of the 12700 Alexandrite project with a hull made of composite materials. Commissioned by the Black Sea Fleet five years ago, the Vladimir Yemelyanov managed to visit Sevastopol, after which it departed for the Mediterranean Sea. In January 2022, the aircraft became part of the Russian Navy's operational unit operating off the Syrian coast. For more than a year and a half, the crew served in combat far from the main base in Sevastopol. Having successfully solved all the tasks set by the command, Vladimir Yemelyanov completed the inter-fleet transfer to the Baltic.
Just like Grigorovich and Yemelyanov, the newest guided missile corvette Mercury, built at the Severnaya Shipyard in St. Petersburg, cannot yet enter its home port – Sevastopol. Recently, the ship made the transition to the Mediterranean Sea, where it is currently operating.
Shortly after the arrival of the Mercury, the political and military situation in the region escalated due to the sharp escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The operation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip, located on the coastal strip of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, is accompanied by heavy human casualties. The naval forces of NATO countries are being pulled together here: America alone has brought a pair of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and landing craft with more than 4,000 marines on board to this area.
Despite the enormous firepower, the American squadron does not feel safe: Russian and Chinese frigates and corvettes are operating nearby, and planes and helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) are flying from the Khmeimim air base in the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR). And at the end of October, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, announced the beginning of permanent patrols over the Black Sea of Russian missile-carrying aircraft, including MiG-31 interceptors converted into carriers of hypersonic missiles of the Dagger complex (see "The confrontation between the United States and the Russian Federation came to the tip of the Dagger, "HBO" dated 10/26.23).
The measures of the Russian command to increase the combat readiness of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were not limited to this alone. In the second half of November, the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced new exercises of the fleet forces. In the Baltic, the Stoyky corvette (of the same project 20380 as Mercury) worked out combat training tasks to repel an attack by an unmanned aircraft of a conditional enemy.
During the event, operators of radar stations of radio engineering and rocket-artillery combat units detected and escorted air targets, which were UAVs of one of the units of the Baltic Fleet (BF). The raid of various types of drones on the corvette was carried out simultaneously from several directions with varying intensity. After the detection and issuance of target designations, specialists of anti-aircraft missile and artillery complexes practiced exercises to neutralize the air threat with the performance of conditional rocket and artillery firing.
In addition, the crew of the Stoyky performed exercises on setting up electronic interference, conducted an exercise to combat the survivability of the ship on the move, and also carried out a number of anti-submarine and anti-sabotage measures. While in the exercise area, the corvette fulfilled the tasks of air defense and protection of the ship from attacks by enemy UAVs at sea crossing and when anchored.
Also, as part of the planned sea launch, the crew of the Stoyky completed the tasks of mine laying and combating the conventional enemy's BMK. Specialists of the mine-torpedo warhead of the ship carried out the installation of defensive minefields in specified areas using training bottom and anchor mines.
The Vasily Polyakov aircraft was also located in the exercise area. Acting as part of a formation of ships protecting the Baltic Fleet's water area, he fulfilled the tasks of mine protection for the deployment of surface ships to combat training areas.
The minesweeper carried out a real trawling of the conditional navigable fairway from the training bottom and anchor mines exposed the day before by the corvette Stoyky. The search for dangerous objects was carried out using a sonar station and various types of trawls. Then the crew destroyed the mock-up of a floating mine with artillery fire and worked out the tasks of anti-aircraft and anti-sabotage defense.
According to the press service of the military department, the Vasily Polyakov continues to operate in the coastal waters, performing tasks to improve the professional training of the crew and work out interaction with the Stoyky and other ships of the BF.
It is specified that naval minefields are used to prevent the passage of enemy vessels through maritime communications, as well as to impede the penetration of its ships, submarines, torpedoes and other floating means into harbors, ports, raids and landing sites. Contact and non-contact naval mines are used in the construction of such barriers.
In the second half of November, another Russian Navy corvette was on a training trip. As part of the exercise, Sharp conducted a training exercise to detect and destroy an enemy submarine in Peter the Great Bay. The role of a conditional enemy was performed by a diesel-electric submarine (DPL) type 636.3 from the submarine forces of the Pacific Fleet (TOF). According to the plan of the exercise, signs of an unidentified underwater vehicle were found in the waters of the bay. The nearby corvette "Sharp" was instructed by the command to immediately proceed to a dangerous area to classify the target and neutralize it. Soon, the ship's crew, in cooperation with anti-submarine aircraft such as IL-38, clarified the location of the submarine and maintained sonar contact, despite attempts by submariners to evade pursuit. On command from the organizers of the exercises, the combat crews of the corvette performed a conditional launch of an anti-submarine torpedo.
Vyacheslav Ivanov
Vyacheslav Viktorovich Ivanov is a military expert and historian.
