Black Sea Fleet (BSF) landing ship Caesar Kunikov will leave Sevastopol in March 2013 and head for Bulgaria to pass repair, a source in the fleet told Central Navy Portal.
As is planned, Caesar Kunikov would undergo repairs at the Flotski Arsenal shipyard in Varna. The ship will pass interim overhaul and modernization; working period will last 2 years. Repair will be performed in settlement of Bulgaria's national debt to the USSR.
Training ship Perekop will also arrive in Varna for repairs in the same period.
Perekop-class training ship Smolny finished interim overhaul at the Flotski Arsenal shipyard in Oct 2012; currently, the ship is moored at Novorossiysk Naval Base.
According to some information, training ship Smolny in 2013 will accommodate Russian naval mariners sent to France for training; in future, they will serve on Mistral-class landing ship Vladivostok being built for Russian Navy in Saint-Nazaire, France.
Project 775/II landing ship Caesar Kunikov (up to May 10, 1989 named BDK-64) was built in Gdansk, Poland in 1986 and commissioned into Black Sea Fleet (BSF) Landing Ship Division. Stationed in Sevastopol.
Basic performance of Project 775 landing ship:
Full displacement over 4,000 tons
Dimensions: length over 112 meters; beam 15 meters; draft 4.4 meters
Full speed 18 knots
Cruising range about 6,000 nm at 12 knots
Endurance 30 days
Crew about 100 men including 15 officers
Armament: two 57-mm gun mounts AK-725 with fire control system MR-103, two 122-mm launchers MS-73 MLRS Grad-M
Amphibious lift capacity 10 tanks and over 300 marines