18.04.2012
The next Grachonok-class special-purpose boat will be laid down at JSC Zelenodolsk Shipyard on May 5. A solemn keel-laying ceremony of the fourth Project 21980 (serial number 984) counter-terror craft will take place at the shipyard, a source in defense industry told .
Project 21980
Grachonok was developed by
Vympel Design Bureau (Nizhniy Novgorod) by order of Russian Navy. The boats are built by
Zelenodolsk Shipyard. First boat of the project –
P-104 (serial number 981) – has been serving in Leningrad Naval Base at Kronshtadt since 2009. The second boat will join Black Sea Fleet on May 7, 2012 and will be based in Novorossiysk. The third boat was laid down the year before, on May 6, 2011 and is expected to be put afloat in the coming summer. When sea trials are over, the boat is to be commissioned into Russian Navy by the end of the current year.
Grachonok-class boats are designed for counter-terror warfare in Russian Navy's basing sites, have good navigability and crew living conditions. To execute wide range of combat tasks, they are equipped with up-to-date counter-terror, radioelectronic, and diving facilities.
