The ceremony was attended by the First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Alexander Vitko, the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Igor Osipov, and the Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev.
Graivoron is the ninth ship of the project 21631 / Buyan-M-class corvette. It was built at the “Zelenodolsk Plant named after AM Gorky “. The ship was laid down back in 2015, and got its name in honor of a city in the Belgorod region.
Graivoron becomes the fourth “small missile ship” (the official Russian Navy designation for the type) of the Black Sea Fleet. It is armed with the land attack cruise missile “Kalibr-NK”. It joined the 41st brigade of missile boats of the Black Sea Fleet, which already includes the Vyshny Volochek, Orekhovo-Zuevo and Ingushetia built as part of the same contract and commissioned between 2018 and 2019.
About Buyan-M corvette (Project 21631)
The Project 21631 “small missile ship” was designed by Zelenodolsk Design Bureau JSC. The Zelenodolsk plant has already delivered eight vessels of the class to the Russian Navy. The first two: Grad Sviyazhsk and Uglich joined the Caspian flotilla of the Russian Navy on July 27, 2014. The third ship in class, Veliky Ustyug, was commissioned with the Caspian Flotilla on December 19, 2014. The fourth and fifth corvettes, Zeleny Dol and Serpukhov were built by Zelenodolsk under a contract dated October 19, 2012 and joined the Black Sea Fleet in October 2016. On June 1, 2018, the sixth vessel, Vyshny Volochek was added to the Black Sea Fleet,followed by the Orekhovo-Zuevo on December 10, 2018, and the Ingushetia on December 28, 2019.
Three more Buyan-M ships have been contracted by the Russian Ministry of Defense on September 7, 2016 (under a contract worth 27 billion rubles): Grad (keel laid on April 24, 2017), Naro-Fominsk (keel laid on February 23, 2018) and Stavropol (keel laid on July 12, 2018). They are expected to be commissioned with the Navy between 2021 and 2023.
Main specifications:
- Displacement: 949 tons
- Length: 75 m
- Beam: 11 m
- Propulsion: CODAD 2 shafts
- Speed: 26 knots
- Range: 2,300 nautical miles @ 12 knots
- Crew: 52 sailors
- Weapons: 100 mm A-190-01 main gun, 2× 30mm AK-630-M2 CIWS, Pantsir-M CIWS (Stavropol), 2× 4 UKSK VLS cells for Kalibr or Oniks anti-ship cruise missiles, 2× 4 Komar surface-to-air missiles, DP-65 anti-saboteur grenade launcher, 2× 14.5 mm KPV type
