Black Sea Fleet to be reinforced by two Baltic Fleet ships

15.06.2010 It is planned to reinforce Russia's Black Sea Fleet (BSF) based in Sevastopol by Baltic Fleet (BF) warships, said a source in Russian Navy Main HQ.

"At present, we negotiate on transfer of two frigates (Neustrashimy and Yaroslav Mudry) from Baltiysk to Sevastopol", said the source. According to him, the transfer date will be defined once the final decision is made. "Most likely, that would happen next year", assumed the officer.

In his turn, the source in Black Sea Fleet HQ said the fleet had not received any official documents affirming the transfer so far, although the BSF command was making inquiries on Project 11540 frigates which had never been deployed at BSF before.

Viktor Ozerov, chairman of defense committee at the Federation Council previously said referring to defense minister Anatoly Serdiukov that Black Sea Fleet was in need of modernization with new naval hardware and arms. It is planned to reinforce the fleet with Project 22350 frigate Admiral Kasatonov (laid down in Nov 2009 at Severnaya Verf shipyard), Project 677 diesel submarine Sevastopol (laid down in Nov 2006), Project 21631 small missile ship (to be laid down late 2010), and Project 20380 corvette Provorny (to be laid down in 2011).

Frigates Neustrashimy and Yaroslav Mudry are the only Project 11540 ships in Russian Navy. They were commissioned into Baltic Fleet in 1993 and in June 2009 respectively. The frigates are armed with advanced tactical weapons – ship-to-ship missile system, short- and middle-range SAM systems, ASW rocket launcher RBU-6000 and so forth. Shipborne helicopter Ka-27 armed with ASW torpedoes, missiles, and depth charges is placed in the hangar. Frigate of this class has displacement of 4,000 tons; speed of 30 knots; operating range of 3,000 nm; endurance of 30 days; crew of 210 including 35 officers.