Alexander Gnusarev, chairman of the United Industrial Corp., stands in front of the corvette Steregushchy.
Photo: Mikhail Razuvaev
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Russian Navy Gets New Ship
The ceremony for the signing of the purchase-sale agreement for the Steregushchy (Guardian), the first of a new line of corvettes for the Russian Navy at the Northern Wharf in St. Petersburg. Due to delays in financing, it took six years to build the new ship and no more of them will be ready for at least four more years. In the time it took to build this one, which was originally expected to be completed in 2004, its cost jumped from 1.8 billion rubles to 7 billion rubles. Observers note that such a price rise is normal for the first ship in a series, however. That is especially true when inflation in that time is considered. Tests uncovered serious flaws in it and its design will be revised. The hull of the ship will not have to be redesigned.
The launch of new ship is not considered a public event. But this is the first ship in post-Soviet times built from a new design, so an exception was made. The Project 20380 corvette (formerly designed as a patrol boat) was designed by the Almaz design bureau in St. Petersburg. The multipurpose craft has a water displacement of 2000 tons and speed of up to 26 knots. It will be equipped with Uran anti-ship missiles, Kortik-M antiaircraft artillery missiles, a 100-mm. A-190 gun mount, two 30-mm. AK-630M gun mounts, a Paket-NK anti-ship/anti-torpedo complex and a Ka-27PL anti-ship helicopter.
A Navy spokesman estimated that 50 of the ships would be put into service. Three more are under construction now at Northern Wharf and one is being made for the Pacific Fleet at the Amur Shipbuilding Plant. The next ships of this model will be ready only in 2011 because priority is being given to the construction of strategic nuclear submarines at Sevmashpredpriyatia.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 15, 2007
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