Construction with obstacles
The Provornyy is the second Project 20385 (Gremyashchy-class) corvette, which is an upgraded version of the Project 20380 Steregushchiy-class. The keel of the ship was laid on July 27, 2013. Construction progressed slowly from the beginning, in part due to Western sanctions imposed due to the Russian Federation’s annexation of Ukrainian Crimea in 2014.
The Project 20385 corvettes, unlike the Steregushchiy-class, were to be fitted with a Rolls-Royce MTU 16V1163 TB93 diesel engines connected by a Renk reduction gearbox. Another novelty was shaft lines and CPP propellers, probably made by Andritz Hydro. CPP propellers on combat ships of this size were a complete novelty in Russia (and previously in USSR). In addition, active fin stabilizers from B+V Industriech were acquired. However, sanctions imposed on Russia resulted in the withdrawal of German companies from deliveries under the Project 20385 corvette program. The propellers, shaft lines and stabilizers that were installed on the first-in-class ship, Gremyashchy, were still able to be transported to the shipyard, but MTU withdrew from the supply of main engines. This was a serious blow to the program. The only solution was to redesign the engine compartment of the 20385 units for Russian propulsion.
Provornyy faced another setback on December 17, 2021. In the evening hours, a fire broke out on the corvette under construction. During firefighting operations, many mistakes were made, mainly organizational, and as a result the ship was seriously damaged.
First of all, the upper parts of the superstructure and the mast were burned, and the vertical missile launcher were damaged. The superstructures for the Project 20380 and 20385 corvettes are manufactured by the Sriedne-Nevskiy shipyard in Pontonny near St. Petersburg from GRP laminates formed by vacuum infusion. At the time, officials assured that the repairs would not significantly increase construction time, which of course turned out to be a propaganda pipe dream. The new superstructure was fitted to Proworny in November 2022.
Gremyashchy-class corvettes
Project 20385 corvettes are a modernised version of the Steregushchiy-class. They are fitted with the IBMK (Integrirovannyy Bashennyy Machtovyy Kompleks) integrated mast, among other things, the MF RLK (Mnogofunktsional’nyy radiolokatsionnyy kompleks) Zaslon multifunctional 3D radar system, with eight active AESA antennas (Russian: AFAR – Aktivnaya fazirovannaya antennaya reshetka) of S and X-bands. The Zasłon system, compared to the Furke-2 with rotating passive antenna (standard on the first eight Steregushchiy-class), gives a quantum leap in the ability to control the air situation, thanks to the use of the higher resolution X-band. It also significantly increases the number of tracked objects (reportedly to more than 100) with the ability to simultaneously guide up to 16 missiles to different air targets.
The use of the Zaslon system also made it possible to abandon the Monument-A and 5P-10-02 Puma fire control radars (for antiship missile system and main gun). TK-25-02 electronic warfare system antennas were also integrated with the IBMK. A simplified version of the IBMK was also used on Project 20380 corvettes from the ninth unit of the series (Geroy Rossiyskoy Federatsii Aldar Tsydenzhapov).
The 3S97 launcher of the Redut air defence system installed in front of the superstructure has been replaced by an eight-cell UKSK 3S14UK2 universal vertical launcher. It allows the use of the 3M55 Oniks supersonic anti-ship missiles and 3M54 anti-ship missiles, 3M14 cruise missiles and 91R2 anti-submarine missiles (3R14 Kalibr-NK system). The installation of the UKSK necessitated the relocation of the Redut launcher. By extending the ship aft by less than 2 m, it was possible to install two 3S97 launcher modules in the hull on both sides of the helicopter landing pad. In addition, the total number of cells was increased from 12 to 16, allowing to carry up to 64 9M100 short-range missiles.
Project 20380 and 20385 corvettes are currently the most numerous series of medium displacement ships under construction in Russia. Two shipyards (Severnaya in St. Petersburg and Amurskiy in Komsomolsk-on-Amur) have built (or are in various stages of construction) 18 of these successful ships (12 Project 20380 +6 Project 20385).
Of the Project 20385 corvettes, only one has so far raised the Russian flag – Gremyashchy, which joined the Pacific Fleet. Provornyy is scheduled to join the same fleet by the end of 2025.
