This html article is produced from an uncorrected text file through optical character recognition. Prior to 1940 articles all text has been corrected, but from 1940 to the present most still remain uncorrected. Artifacts of the scans are misspellings, out-of-context footnotes and sidebars, and other inconsistencies. Adjacent to each text file is a PDF of the article, which accurately and fully conveys the content as it appeared in the issue. The uncorrected text files have been included to enhance the searchability of our content, on our site and in search engines, for our membership, the research community and media organizations. We are working now to provide clean text files for the entire collection.
class
“Koni’
newest Soviet small frigate class, named “Koni" by NATO, aJ>ears configured more for coast guard duties than for open-seas ib '“t!°nS' “bout 2,000-tons full load displacement, the 320-foot ^ gaS tu’ b‘ne “nd diesel propulsion. Armament includes two Ib-mm. dual-purpose gun mounts, two twin 30-mm. A A S(Unt.S’ an SA-N-4 point-defense 5/1A1 system (whose launcher is tU ln raised position above the after deckhouse in this view), and Th' l2~harre,led ASW rocket launchers; there are no torpedo tubes. s may he the long-overdue replacement for the obsolescent “Riga
I ‘K
nuchka” class
$ Natiuchka-” class missile corvettes remain in production for the
\n^e* ^at>y> while three of an export version have been delivered to fo a‘ The export corvettes carry simplified electronic suites and | '~~'*nstead of six—SSMs with shorter ranges than the standard Kl[UC^a's” ^ relatively slow craft despite its torpedo boat-like Sy 1 950-ton, diesel-driven “Nanuchka” carries an SA-N-4 5AM
c^aff launchers, and a twin 57-mm. dual-purpose gun nt for self-defense in both domestic and export versions. The et Pacific Fleet received its first “Nanuchka” in 1977.
lango” class_______________________________________
Tango’’ is a conventionally powered attack submarine, re a successor to the numerous “Foxtrot-” class design, which
1 ton a*ns in production for export over 20 years after the first was CQn^?e*e^' “Tango” is similar in length to “Foxtrot” but has a strS'^er“bly broader beam. The hull is not, however, of the modern,
J eatn^ned “Albacore" form employed in the West. “Tangos” seem to ,u. “ large sonar array at the bow and appear sheathed with a er~Hke substance.
class
“*fa’
t he
■ysterious “Alfa-" class nuclear-propelled submarine is pictured c,‘n •* °n^y known photograph of a unit of this class. These ships are :,r. ldcr“bly smaller than the simultaneously-produced “Victor" in eS bull and sail are the most hydrodynamically refined of sp ^0viet submarine design, indicating a very high submerged *ed ^ability.
Prod
itOR'S Note: All but three photos used in this feature are taken from ^978 edition of the Naval Institute’s Combat Fleets of the World now
uction and scheduled for publication in June.
The Vasiliy Chapaev, the ninth of ten "Kresta I1-” class “large ASW ships," was completed late in 1976. The Admiral Yumashev, recently commissioned, may be the last of the line of these 7,600-ton ships, which have been in production since the mid 1960s. The quadruple missile launch cells abreast the bridge are now believed to hold SS-N-14 ASW cruise missiles, leaving this class (and the larger “Karas”) with their SA-N-3 5AA1 systems as their principal means of defense against opposing surface ships.
Sverdlov class
«S tl
■<>h;
Kiss,
neiv-
mou,
Prod,
The Soviet Navy continues to maintain and modernize its large force of Sverdlov-f/arr conventional gun cruisers, constructed in the early 1950s. Latest of these 17,200-ton ships to receive a face-lift is the Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya, which now in addition to her 12 152-mm. (111x4), 12 100-mm. (11x6), and 32 37-mm. (11x16) guns, also has eight twin 30-mm. AA guns with four radar directors. Her communications systems also have been updated. With these ships, and a large number of old destroyers, the Soviet Navy has the world’s most formidable amphibious fire-support capability; the Sverdlovs are also used as fleet flagships and for training.
“Mol” class
“Mol” is the NATO nickname for a non-missile-armed derivative of the “Osa-" class missile cutter. Four were given to Somalia in 1976—two with four 53.3-cm. torpedo tubes and two (as pictured here) without; all have two twin 30-mm. gun mounts. Sri Lanka operates a sister boat. The basic “Osa” hull has remained in production since the late 1950s and has spawned such other derivatives as the “Stenka” patrol craft for the KGB Border Guard and the “Turya” hydrofoil torpedo boat for the Red Fleet. The 230-ton “Mol" is believed to be primarily an export item.
Smolnyy class
The 6,000-ton, diesel-powered cadet training ship Smolnyy, her sister Perekop, and the modified “Ugra-” class submarine tenders Gangut and Borodino serve the 11 "higher naval schools" as world- cruising, navigation and seamanship training tenders. Equipped with large classrooms, four-man staterooms, and a comprehensive sensor suite, the Smolnyy is armed with two twin 76-mm. and two twin 30-mm. gun mounts, as well as two manually loaded 16-barrelled ASW rocket launchers. Six pulling boats are stowed aft for exercising the students.
“Ropucha” class_________________________________________________________________________________________________ ‘Vi.
e Soviet Navy is fast acquiring a sizeable amphibious lift ^P^biliiy After building nearly 100 “Polnocny-” class medium atlding ships for the Soviet and other navies, Polish yards turned to Coristructing the far larger “Ropucha” class, about the size and opacity of a World War II U.S. Navy 1ST but capable of perhaps U*Ce the speed. The imposing silhouette of the “Ropucha” includes 110 twin 37-mm., radar-directed gun mounts, while on the foredeck are Provisions for later installation of two barrage rocket launchers. n i9?7, the Department of Defense reported that a far larger ^Phibious warfare ship design was under construction in the . Meanwhile, East Germany is rapidly replacing its aged
obbe- ’ class landing ships with units of the “Frosch class, similar ° but somewhat smaller than the “Ropucha” design.
“Krivak II” class_______________________________________
. e first of a new variant of the gas turbine-propelled “Krivak class *he Rezkyy. Of the size and general capability of Western ASW riSates, these “large ASW ships” carry four SS-N-14 ASW cruise *SsHes as their main armament. The “Krivak IF substitutes two neu"model 100-tnm. dual-purpose guns for the two twin 76-mm. °unts of fhe earlier version, which reportedly is still in parallel Auction. Altogether there are at least 20 of these 3,800-ton,
5'foot ships, with three or more being in the new configuration.
*0rum” class_________________________________________
^1 •
• e ^ ’ 656-metric ton “Sortim” class is a modern diesel-electric 'leaking tug designed with 2,300 shaft horsepower. Armed units,
^ e tbe Sakhalin pictured here, are operated hy the KGB Border iQrd fleef and carry two twin 30-mm. gun mounts. I he Sorum JUst one of well over a dozen different auxiliary classes now in S^'es production for the Red Fleet in Soviet, Polish, and Finnish 'hards. The Soviet Navy stresses constant updating of its fleet of ^r 7^0 naval-subordinated seagoing auxiliaries, many of which are arir*ed hy civilian crews.
&
^'ev class
*pi
te Kiev, the first of a class of 37,000-ton “ASW cruisers,” continued
n‘ake news in 1978 as she steamed south from her Kola Peninsula •nto the Mediterranean in January. Her sister Minsk is hected to emerge from the Black Sea during 1978, while a third, arkov, is reported under construction. The dozen or so Yak-36 t0r8€v" fixed-wing aircraft she carries seem to be VTOL (vertical “keoffor landing) rather than VlSTOL (vertical or short takeoff or *nding) like the Western “Harrier"; in other respects, however, such ** tbe>r lift-plus-cruise engine configuration, they are in advance of e,r only operational Western counterpart.
Several “Golf ll-’’ class diesel-pouered ballistic missile submarines were transferred to the Baltic Fleet for operations in 1976, posing a threat to NATO targets as far away as the British Isles. This particular unit had a low, extension added to the after end of the already enormous sail, apparently to house a towed submerged communications array. The presence of these ships has considerably complicated the already difficult ASW problem for NATO in the Baltic.
“Aist” class.
The Soviet Navy is now operating several 220-ton “Aist-’’class assault hovercraft in its Baltic Fleet. Equipped with two twin 30-mm. gun mounts and bow and stern ramps, these craft are capable of reaching speeds of approximately 70 knots and of carrying three assault tanks and several hundred troops. (See the December 1977 Proceedings, page 109, for an underway photo of the “Aist.”) The Soviet Navy, of course, operates the world's largest fleet of hovercraft, all of them apparently intended for amphibious warfare duties.
‘Osa” class
The Soviet Navy is sufficiently rich in resources that it can afford to expend especially constructed, radio-controlled target craft, based on the “Osa” missile cutter hull and propulsion plant. This particular craft sports numerous radar corner-reflectors and two heat generators to attract antiship cruise missiles equipped with infrared seekers. Another unarmed version of the “Osa" with a larger superstructure is used to control the target craft. There are also numerous non-powered target barges, some over 350 feet in length.
‘Kara” class
The Ochakov is the second of the five completed “Kara-” class gas turbine-driven “large ASW ships.” The fourth, reportedly named Azov, has some modification evidently not yet ready for Western eyes, while the fifth, Petropavlovsk, emerged in January 1978. Considering her name, the latter may be the first of her class to transfer to the Pacific Fleet. Some 2,000-odd tons larger than “Kresta II, ” “Kara” adds two SA-N-4 point-defense SAM systems and variable depth sonar and substitutes 76-mm. for 57-mm. guns. Close defense is augmented by four radar-directed gatling guns.