News for the Week

Frukus

The United States, France, United Kingdom, and Russia are conducting join operations and drills in the Baltic Sea. These are annual exercises that build cooperation and security measures between the countries. The following ships are participating in the exercises.

United States-USS Normandy (CG-60)

France- DeGrasse

Russian- Yaroslav Mudriy

United Kingdom- HMS York

Here is a quote from the commanding officer of the USS Normandy,Capt. Kevin Hill

“Another essential part to promoting peace and security throughout a region is that we and our partner nations need to be able to work together and stand tall to deter an enemy threat. With these security exercises, we showed that we are more than capable of coming together to stand up for freedom and democracy in a way that says we stand united. We will continue to ensure that the waters of the world are secure and free of oppression.”

Here is an article about FRUKUS

Yuri Dolgorukiy

The Yuri Dolgorukiy has completed all of its sea trials and will soon be accepted into the fleet. The planned day of turnover will be Navy Day, 29 July. Also mentioned by the shipyard is that the former Admiral Gorshkov will be turned over to the Indian Navy by the 4th of December.  

For the Russian speakers out there here is the article. 

Syria and the Russian Navy

Once again it's Friday and we are ready for the end of week news.  The big news out of Russia this week has been the sale of attack helicopters to Syria, with the US condemning the sale and Russia defending it. So how does this effect the Russian Navy? The Russian Navy maintains a port complex in the Syrian city of Tartus. This base is very important from a prestige and logistical point of view. If the current Syrian regime were to fall, Russia is very worried about losing its influence. 

Other News:

Yuri Dolgorukiy surfacing during sea trials.

The Yuri Dolgorukiy put to sea to finish sea trials. The article is in Russian.

Yekaterinburg on fire while in drydock

It will take up to two years to repair the ballistic missile submarine Yekaterinburg, which was damaged in a fire in December. Again the article is in Russian. 

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.

Bulava

Bulava being fired from Dmitri Donskoy

The RSM-56 is a new ballistic missile for the Russian Navy that has been in some form of development since 1999. The missile was to be the new missile for a new class of SSBN, which had been laid down in 1996.

The missile however failed its first three tests, and both the missile and the construction of the submarine were delayed.

The design bureau started from the ground up, and designed the Bulava. The new missile was significantly different, and because of this the SSBN that had been laid down had to be heavily modified.  

Spiral glow after a failed Bulava launch

The Russian Navy expected to take delivery of the missile and submarine in 2005.

However the missile again failed tests and the missile was delayed. 

In 2009 the missile's chief designer resigned, and the program was examined once again.

Since a new chief designer has been in place the missile tests have been successful.

Yuri Dogorukiy being loaded with Bulava

The missile has now been fired from the new SSBN Yuri Dolgorukiy, and will enter serial production.

Yuri Dolgorukiy getting ready to head to sea.

This missile is the most expensive weapons system ever developed by the Russian Federation. Because of the delays in development and deployment the very force structure of the Russian Navy has been effected, and will continue to be effected for the next several years.