TASS News Agency
The Mercury corvette built by Severnaya Verf Shipyard in St. Petersburg has entered the Gulf of Finland for the final stage of sea trials, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“The Mercury corvette built at the Severnaya Verf shipyard has entered the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, for the final stage of sea trials. Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, was informed about the start of the trials at a conference on surface shipbuilding held at the Admiralty building.”
Russian Defense Ministry
The Mercury crew is going to check the corvette’s seaworthiness, the working efficiency of its systems, mechanisms and arms in the next few days. After that the ship will return to the shipyard to remove the exposed defects ahead of the state acceptance trials.
The Mercury is the fifth project 20380 ship, which has been built by Severnaya Verf Shipyard (it is affiliated with the United Shipbuilding Corporation). Project 20380 warships carry the Uran missile system with four container launching ramps and an ammunition load consisting of eight Kh-35U antiship missiles with a firing range of up to 260 km.
The corvette was laid down on February 20, 2015 under the name Retivy. The ship changed its name to Mercury on October 15, 2021 in honor of a 19th century sailing ship of the Black Sea fleet that distinguished itself in the 1828-1829 Russian-Turkish war.
