Ropucha-class landing ship
 The Ropucha-class landing ship Kaliningrad during a visit to Cartagena in 2004.
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ropucha class |
| Builders | Stocznia Północna Shipyard, Gdańsk, Poland |
| Operators | |
| Preceded by | Polnocny class |
| Succeeded by | Ivan Gren class |
| Subclasses |
|
| In commission | 1960 |
| Completed | 28 |
| Active |
|
| Retired | 13 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Type | Landing ship/Landing Ship Tank |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 112.5 m (369 ft 1 in) |
| Beam | 15 m (49 ft 3 in) |
| Draft | 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in) |
| Propulsion | 2 diesel engines; 2 propellers, 19,200 hp (14,300 kW) |
| Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Range | 6,100 nmi (11,300 km; 7,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Capacity |
|
| Complement | 87–98 |
| Armament |
|
The Ropucha class, Soviet designation Project 775, is a class of landing ships (large landing ship in Soviet classification) built in Poland for the Soviet Navy. The ships were built in Poland in the Stocznia Północna shipyards in Gdańsk. Designed for beach landings, they can carry a 450-ton cargo. The ships have both bow- and stern-doors for loading and unloading vehicles, and the 630 square metres (6,800 sq ft) of vehicle deck stretches the length of the hull. Up to 25 armored personnel carriers can be embarked.
While designed for roll-on/roll-off operations, they can also be loaded using dockside cranes. For this purpose there is a long sliding hatch-cover above the bow section for access to the vehicle deck. There are no facilities for helicopters.
In total, 28 ships of this type were commissioned from 1975 to 1991. The last three ships were of the improved variant Project 775M, also called Ropucha II. These have improved defensive armament and accommodation for an increased number of troops.
Operational history
Most of the ships became part of the Russian Navy after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. They were used for landing troops at the Georgian port of Poti during the 2008 South Ossetia war and for deliveries of cargo during the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War.
One ship of the class was delivered to the South Yemen in 1979 and served the Yemeni Navy until 2002, before it was sold as a civilian cargo named Sam of Yemen. It was the only unit of this class in service outside the former Soviet Union.
On 3 August 2012, international media reported that three vessels of the class, Aleksandr Otrakovskiy, Georgiy Pobedonosets and Kondopoga would visit the Russian naval base in Tartus, Syria. The ships were part of the Northern Fleet. Earlier reports, quoting a source at the Russian general staff, said the ships would spend a few days in Tartus and would take on fresh supplies of food and water. British media added that the ships each had up to 120 marines on board.[2][3]
The Russian defence ministry left open the possibility that the ships might dock there at some point for logistical reasons, saying they had every right to do so. The General Staff source, who was not named, had said that after calling in at Tartus they would head for the Bosphorus and the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.[2][4]
From 2013 on, ten Ropucha-class ships, gathered from all four Russian fleets, were used to transport military equipment from Novorosiysk to Tartus in Syria, during an intervention in Syrian civil war, along with Ropucha-class ships.[5]
The Ukrainian Navy's only ship of the class, Kostiantyn Olshansky, was reportedly seized by Russian troops and accepted into service with the Russian Navy after the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in March 2014.[6]
All ships of the Russia's Black Sea Fleet, namely Caesar Kunikov, Novocherkassk, Yamal and Azov were modernized with installation of the Tsentavr-NM2S, Auriga and SAILOR satellite communication systems.[7]
Operations
In the 2021/2022 tension between Russia and Ukraine, the landing ships Korolev, Minsk, Kaliningrad, Pyotr Morgunov, Georgy Pobedonosets, and Olenegorsky Gornyak departed their base passed through the Dardanelles Strait in February 2022 for exercises in the Black Sea.[8][9] The landing ships had deployed from the Baltic and Northern fleets.[10]
Project 775 construction data
| Name | In service | Status |
|---|---|---|
| (SDK-47) BDK-47 | 1 July 1974 | as of 17 December 1994 out of service, ship scrapped |
| (SDK-48) BDK-48 | 30 June 1975 | decommissioned 5 July 1994 |
| (SDK-63) BDK-63 | 30 June 1975 | decommissioned 5 July 1994 |
| (SDK-90) BDK-90 | 30 November 1975 | decommissioned 5 July 1994 |
| (SDK-91) BDK-91 Olenegorski Gornjak | 30 June 1976 | brought on stand mod. II |
| (SDK-181) BDK-181 | 9 October 1976 | decommissioned 5 July 1994 |
| (SDK-182) BDK-182 Kondopoga | 30 November 1976 | brought on stand mod. II |
| (SDK-183) BDK-183 Kotlas | 15 March 1977 | decommissioned 22 July 2005 |
| (SDK-197) BDK-197 | 21 September 1977 | decommissioned 5 July 1994 |
| (SDK-200) BDK-200 | 17 December 1977 | brought on stand mod. II, decommissioned on 30 July 1993 |
| (SDK-55) BDK-55 Aleksandr Otrakowski | 30 July 1978 | |
| BDK-102 Kaliningrad | in service | |
| BDK-127 Minsk | in service | |
| BDK-130 Korolev | in service | |
| (SDK-119) BDK-119 | 27 February 1979 | September 1979 to Yemen as 139. since 2002 decommissioned,[11] since that as the merchant ship Sam of Yemen. 2018 sunk in Aden. |
See also
- List of ships of the Soviet Navy
- List of ships of Russia by project number
- List of active Russian Navy ships
References
- ^ "Black Sea Fleet hazers broke young sailor's jaw". Rusnavy.com. 10 November 2010. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ^ a b "Russia denies warships heading for Syria's Tartus port". BBC News. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ^ Loiko, Sergei L. (3 August 2012). "Russia reportedly sending warships with marines to Syrian waters". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- ^ Loiko, Sergei L. (3 August 2012). "Russia reportedly sending warships with marines to Syrian waters". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- ^ Kubiak, Krzysztof (2017). "Syryjski ekspres". Raport-WTO (in Polish). No. 4. p. 48. ISSN 1429-270X.
- ^ "Russia sets for deploying in Syria large landing ship seized from Ukraine in annexed Crimea - media". Unian. 9 February 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- ^ "Оснащение больших десантных кораблей Черноморского флота системами спутниковой связи" [Equipping large landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet with satellite communication systems]. bmpd.livejournal.com (in Russian). 11 December 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- ^ "Ukraine crisis: Russia sends 6 landing warships to Black Sea". South China Morning Post. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ Sutton, H. I. (8 February 2022). "6 Russian Warships And Submarine Now Entering Black Sea Towards Ukraine". Naval News. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ McCleary, Paul (10 February 2022). "'Dangerous moment': Russian naval buildup near Ukraine hits Cold War levels". Politico. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
- ^ Project 775 bei russianships.info (englisch)
- "Project 775 Ropucha class Tank Landing ship". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2 April 2007.
- Polmar, Norman (1991). The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy (5th ed.). Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute. pp. 217–218. ISBN 9780870212413 – via Google Books.
External links
- Russian Littoral Warfare Ships at Hazegray.org
- Yemeni Navy at Hazegray.org
- All Ropucha Class Landing Ships - Complete Ship List at Russianships.info