Like a year ago, the end of the year was a good time for the Russian Navy (if we ignore the losses inflicted by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, of course). The first event related to the strengthening of the Russian Navy, specifically the Pacific Fleet, took place on 11 December. On that day, the flags on two nuclear submarines were raised at the Sevmash Shipyard in Severodvinsk. The ceremony was attended by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
The first of these was the strategic submarine ”Imperator Aleksandr III” of Project 955A Borey-A. It is the fourth SSBN of this class, and the third in the Pacific Fleet (The first three Project 955 SSBNs were different, and used hull sections from the unfinished Project 971 Shchuka-B SSNs). The vessel was built by Sevmash under a May 2012 contract. The keel was laid on 18 December 2015 and the roll-out from the shipyard hall took place on 29 December 2022. ”Imperator Aleksandr III” underwent a series of sea trials last summer and fall.
At Sevmash, the construction of three more Borey-A SSBNs is underway, including ”Knyaz’ Pozharskiy”, which was due to be launched by the end of the year for the Russian Navy, but failed to meet this deadline.
The second vessel to raise the flag on 11 December was the nuclear powered attack submarine K-571 ”Krasnoyarsk” of Project 885M (08851) Yasen’-M. It is the third unit of this project, and the second of its class intended for the Pacific Fleet. The SSNs of project 885M are a modification of the prototype K-560 “Severodvinsk“ of hte Project 885. These submarines will be, for the time being, the main underwater carriers of the hypersonic missile 3M22 Tsircon. In addition to these, SSNs of the 885/885M project can carry missiles of the Kalibr-PL system (incl. 3M14 cruise missiles) and supersonic antiship missiles 3M55 Onyx.
The following ships raised their Russian flags on 25 December. Again with the participation of President Putin, as well as Defence Minister Sergei Shoygu, the frigate “Admiral Golovko“ of the Project 22350 was commissioned. This is the third vessel of this class, which, like “Admiral Gorshkov“ and “Admiral Kasatonov“, has been assigned to the Northern Fleet. These frigates are, for the time being, the only type of surface ship armed with Tsircon missiles. The “Admiral Golovko“ is the first frigate to be equipped with a fully Russian propulsion, the previous two having installed propulsion systems with Ukrainian-made components. We wrote about the Gorshkov-class frigates recently.
On 25 December, the Baltic Fleet also received a new ship. It is a fast attack craft “Naro-Fominsk“ of the Project 21361 Buyan-M. It is already the eleventh of its class contracted by the Russian Ministry of Defence. It is also the fourth Buyan-M in the Baltic. The ships are armed with, among other things, the Kalibr-NK system with 3M14 cruise missiles. The last one – future “Stavropol“ – is under construction.
The “Naro-Fominsk“ was built by the Zelenodolsk Shipyard, based in Zelenodolsk, Tatarstan. The keel of this small vessel was laid on 23 February 2018, and it only went out for sea trials last summer, after being towed by rivers and channels to the Baltic Sea. This was due to the fact that the construction of the Buyan-Ms of last series was experiencing long delays, which was mainly due to the international sanctions introduced after the annexation of Crimea. Originally, the ships of this type were equipped with four German MTU diesel engines, the deliveries of which were stopped after the sanctions came into force. The Russians then bought a batch of engines from the Chinese company Henan Diesel Engine Industry, but these proved unreliable and unsustainable. In the end, two engines manufactured by the Russian company Kolomenskiy Plant were adopted.
The last new vessel to raise the flag in Baltiysk on 25 December was the minehunter “Lev Chernavin“ of the Project 12700 Alexandrit. The new MCM vessel has reinforced the Baltic Fleet, as well. The ship was built by the Sredne Nevskiy shipyard in Pontonnyy near St. Petersburg. The keel was laid on 24 July 2020 and the launch took place on 14 April 2023.
To date, eight Alexandrites have entered service. Two are in the Baltic, three in the Black Sea and three in the Pacific. Three more are under construction and a fourth has been contracted.
