What's in a Name?

Astrkhan. You can see the name on the side of the ship

As I read about the Russian Navy I often have wondered where the ship names came from. Some like the Настойчивый Persistent which is an Sovremennyy class destroyer in service with the Baltic  Fleet, follow the British manner of naming ships. In the British Navy you will find ships such as the Invicible, Tireless, etc.

Most Russian Naval vessels have their ship number on the side

Many other ships in the Russian Navy bear the names of cities. While this may seem to be in the tradition of other Navies around the world, it also has a deeper meaning. After the fall of the Soviet Union the Russian Navy was in shambles. They had no money, and what money the Navy did have was used to decommission ships or was lost to corruption. It was around this time that ships of the Russian Navy started to adopt names. Before this many of the ships were simply know by their class and ship number, such as K-222 or BPK-650.  Many ships adopted names of major Russian cities, and in return the ships received support from the cities. It was a clever way of feeding the sailors and keeping the Russian Navy running.

The sail of the Yuri Dolgorukiy

 Another popular naming method is to name a ship after a famous historical figure such as an admiral. You can see this with the new Borei class submarines, with the first two ships of the class being named Yuri Dolgorukiy and Alexander Nevskiy.

It will be interesting to see what direction the Russian Navy moves in the future naming of ships.

 For an entire list of ships currently serving in the Russian Navy and the names of the ships check out this wikipedia page.

Russian Navy news from this week

Happy Friday! This is a time that the Russian Navy is rebuilding, transforming, and preparing for future missions. I have covered it in the past with blog posts about new ships and new weapons systems. So check past blog posts for anything that you might have missed, or for anything that might be interesting to you. 

This week was full of news about this rebuilding process. Here are a few of the stories that I found.

Yuri Dolgorukiy is set to joint the fleet in October. This was confirmed by a source within the Russian Navy. The official also stated that the second ship in the class, the Alexander Nevskiy, will be joining the fleet at a later date. It is not known if the Yuri Dolgorukiy will remain in the Northern Fleet or if it will be transferred to the Pacific fleet.  The Pacific fleet has much older ballistic missile submarines than the Northern Fleet, but the Northern Fleet has always been the main fleet of Russia, but that could be changing with the emergence of China and the United States in the Pacific. 

The sailing ship Nadezhda has left Vladivostok and is headed to South Korea in order to conduct training and also to take part in a sailing regatta in the city of Yusa. 

The large ASW ship Admiral Kulakov from the Northern Fleet has assumed anti-piracy duties in the Gulf 

of Aden.

A new frigate for the Caspian Flotilla fired missiles during sea trials. This will be the second frigate of the Gepard class to join the Caspian Flotilla. 

In Monday's update we will cover the Caspian Flotilla. Have a great weekend, and remember in the US that this is Memorial Day weekend. I suggest that we all take a moment to remember all those who have given their lives in defense of their homeland.