By the end of this year, the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy will see its naval patrol capabilities strengthened with the arrival of a new Project 22160 vessel, which is currently under construction at the Ak Bars Shipbuilding Corporation and was launched in May. This was confirmed by Renat Mistakhov, the head of the company, to the Russian news agency TASS yesterday.
The new ship, which will be named Viktor Veliky, will undergo various sea trials over the coming months to ensure its operational capabilities, aiming to meet the scheduled delivery timeline. In this regard, Mistakhov stated: “Everything is proceeding as planned, and the ship will be delivered this year. The ship has already arrived in the Baltic Sea and is preparing for all the necessary tests. On August 12, we informed the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy about the Viktor Veliky. Although it is a patrol vessel with not very powerful armament, it can be used as a base and equipped with weaponry. We have communicated this to the client repeatedly.”
It is worth noting that this new patrol ship will be the third launched by the Zelenodolsk shipyards, following the Vasili Bykov and Dimitri Rogachev, and the fifth of the Project 22160. The other two vessels of this class are the Pavel Derzhavin and Sergey Kotov, both launched by the Zaliv shipyard. The second of these two was destroyed in March this year following a Ukrainian attack using Magura V5 naval kamikaze drones, shortly after the sinking of the corvette Ivanovets in a similar attack.
Finally, recalling some features of the Project 22160 class, it should be mentioned that these are the most modern patrol ships in the Russian Navy and the first designed with a modular architecture that allows for the integration of a wide range of weapon systems. Each of these ships displaces between 1,300 and 1,700 tons, although their light weight does not necessarily reflect great seagoing capability or adequate protection for the crew. These issues, highlighted through various complaints from the crews of these ships, led to the cancellation of the project to incorporate a second batch of six vessels, leaving a total of three active ships and two more in the process of being completed (including the Viktor Veliky).
Images used for illustrative purposes
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