Russia launches new stealth corvette Grozny

Russia’s Amur Shipbuilding Plant has launched the multipurpose corvette Grozny, the fifth Project 20380 warship it has built for the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet, the fleet’s press service said. The ceremony took place on Oct. 23 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia’s Far East, more than five years after the ship was laid down on Aug. 23, 2021.

The corvette was rolled out of the construction hall and floated with the help of the Amurets launch pontoon dock, then moved to a pier where workers will finish outfitting it. Russian officials did not give a date for its commissioning, saying only that the ship is expected to join the fleet within the next few years.

“The crew for the corvette Grozny has been formed and began training on October 5, after which it will arrive at the plant to complete the ship together with you and bring it into the fleet in the coming years,” said Adm. Viktor Liina, commander of the Pacific Fleet, RIA Novosti reported.

Project 20380, known in the West as the Steregushchiy class, was designed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau and was the first major surface combatant class developed in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The ships use stealth shaping to reduce their radar signature. The standard design displaces about 2,200 tonnes fully loaded, is about 104 m (341 feet) long and is armed with a 100 mm gun, Redut surface-to-air missiles, Uran anti-ship missiles, close-in weapon systems and anti-submarine torpedoes, and carries a helicopter. Officials did not detail Grozny’s specific equipment.

Four ships of the class already serve with the Pacific Fleet, all built at the Amur plant: Sovershenny, Gromky, Geroy Rossiyskoy Federatsii Aldar Tsydenzhapov and Rezky. Officers have said the corvettes have proven able to operate as far as the Indian Ocean.

The plant, part of the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation, is the Pacific Fleet’s main source of new warships in the Far East. It is currently building 10 ships of various projects, and its order book is fully covered by state defense contracts, according to Khabarovsk Krai Governor Dmitry Demeshin, who said the yard has delivered 99 submarines and more than 100 surface ships to the Pacific Fleet over its history.