The final unit of a class of 19 degaussing tenders ordered for the Soviet Navy, the SR-253 was left incomplete at Poland's Northern Shipyard, Gdansk, after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. As part of its contribution to NATO, new member Poland has had the ship reconfigured as a multipurpose auxiliary. Work began on 16 August 2000, and the renamed Kontradmiral X. Czernicki was commissioned on 1 September 2001. The 2,390-ton, 242foot ship can be employed as an intelligence collector (using a modular intercept system carried in a 20-foot container on the helicopter deck), as a transport for 140 fully equipped troops and 150 tons of containerized cargo and vehicles, and as a deployable support tender for small combatants or mine countermeasures units. During the extensive reconfiguration, a bow bulb was added to the hull, and an armament of one twin 23-mm antiaircraft gun mounting and two quadruple point-defense missile launchers was added.
The final Duke-class, Type 23 frigate for Britain's Royal Navy, the St. Albans is seen arriving at Portsmouth on 3 November 2001. Delivered on 27 October, the 4,300-ton ship was to be commissioned this month. The first Type 23 was commissioned in June 1990, but the class has experienced long delays in reaching full operational capability because of problems with the combat data and weapon control system. The 436.3-foot ships are propelled by a unique combined diesel-electric and gas turbine (CODLAG) system that uses electric power from the four 5,200 alternator sets to operate two 2,000-shaft-horsepower electric motors for cruising speeds up to 15 knots; two geared Rolls Royce Spey gas turbines add power for maximum speeds up to 30 knots. The Type 23s carry 32 vertically launched Sea Wolf surface-to-air and 8 Harpoon antiship missiles, a 114-mm dual-purpose gun, two 30-mm guns, four fixed antisubmarine torpedo tubes, and a Lynx or Merlin helicopter. In addition to the 16 Type 23s, the Royal Navy has 5 older but larger Type 22-series frigates and 11 small Type 42-series guided-missile destroyers.
The sole Project 52 destroyer, known as the Luhai class in the West, visited Mediterranean and Western European ports in September and October 2001 in the People's Liberation Army Navy's first show-the-flag cruise beyond Pacific and Indian Ocean waters. The 6,600-ton full load displacement Shenzhan was commissioned in January 1999, but an expected second ship of the class appears to have been canceled. While lacking an adequate air-defense capability, the 502-foot Shenzhan does carry 16 antiship missiles and a twin 120-mm dual-purpose gun mount, along with four twin 37-mm antiaircraft gun mounts. For antisubmarine warfare, the only armament is a pair of triple lightweight torpedo tubes, and the larger hangar aft can accommodate two helicopters. An order for two far more potent surface combatants for China, however, was announced on 3 January 2002; Russia's Northern Shipyard, St. Petersburg, is to deliver a second pair of Sovremennyy-class guided-missile destroyers to China by the end of 2005. Despite her dated design, the steam turbine-propelled Sovremennyy carries a potent battery of antiaircraft and antiship missiles, as well as two twin 130-mm dual-purpose guns.