Russia strengthens Black Sea fleet with Karakurt-class ships

Pantsir-M, Photo: MoD Russia

Russia - The 18-boat construction programme of Project 22800, the KARAKURT class (60 m, 800 t), currently stands at 16 units laid down, four of which are in service, two are undergoing trials, five have been launched and five are under construction. Following the commissioning of one of the small missile ships for the Baltic Fleet at the end of 2018, 2019 and 2020, the fourth has now followed: At the Zaliv naval shipyard in Kerch on the island of Crimea, the ZYKLON, the first naval vessel in years, was put into service in mid-July. With ASKOLD (undergoing trials) and AMUR (to be launched at the end of 2022), two more KARAKURT-class (Black Widow) vessels are to be completed there this year, which will then strengthen the Russian Federation's Black Sea fleet. This fleet is also to be supplemented by three further boats launched at the More shipyard in Feodosia in Crimea to compensate for the losses incurred during the current war. As larger ships are not allowed to pass through the Bosporus, only smaller, locally built boats or boats transported on inland waterways can join the Black Sea fleet - such as two further KARAKURTS, which are currently under construction near Kazan on the Volga. In addition to an eight-cell universal vertical silo for the SS-N-27/30 Kalibr missile, a Mars cruise missile for engaging sea and land targets, and SS-N-26 Oniks, a sea target FK, as well as a 76-millimetre AK-176MA cannon, this model will also be equipped with the navalised Pantsir-M short-range defence system. On a stabilised platform with its own radar sensor and an electro-optical target tracking system, the system will be capable of simultaneously engaging four targets at a range of up to ten nautical miles with high accuracy. Incidentally, the newly commissioned units will not be deployed to Sevastopol, but will be subordinated to the Azov Naval District in Mariupol, which has been in operation since July 2023. A total of eight combat and sixteen support units are to be brought together in this "Azov Navy".