03.12.2009
BSF flagship Guard missile cruiser Moskva has been laid up at floating dock PD-30 for scheduled interim overhaul, informs Interfax referring to the source in BSF.
According to the source, the overhaul will be completed in a month and will comprise replacement of cooling and other machinery; reclamation work at bottom and outboard fittings, propulsion shafts and screws; clearing and painting of bottom and above-water parts of the ship's hull.
As for some media sources, cruiser
Moskva suffered hull damages during skirmish with Georgian artillery in August 2008 at the time of Georgian-Ossetian conflict. Those days Ukrainian naval radio
Breeze reported that the cruiser's bulkhead had been damaged, 8 crewmembers died, 10 had been injured. Russia confuted that information.
There were also some rumors in media that the cruiser's steam boiler burst in September 2009 and in consequence of the fire some mechanisms scorched and 10 sailors suffered. BSF command confuted that information again, having added that only fumigation occurred on board which was immediately eliminated.
Moskva is a Project 1164
Atlant lead ship, Guided Missile Cruiser.
REGISTRATION
Sevastopol, Black Sea Fleet
CONSTRUCTION, NAME
The cruiser was laid down on November 4, 1976 at
Nikolayev 61 Kommunara Shipyard and launched on July 27, 1979 with the name of
Slava. Naval flag was hoisted on January 30, 1983 and the cruiser was commissioned into Navy. Since June 22, 1995 the cruiser is known as
Moskva.
MILESTONES
The cruiser repeatedly deployed in the Mediterranean, paid numerous calls at ports of the region. In December 1989 it enhanced security of Soviet side at meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev, Secretary General of Soviet Union's Communist Party and the US President George Bush at Malta. In 1990 the cruiser was inactivated for modernization at
Nikolayev Shipyard where stayed for 8.5 years. On May 13, 1998 it obtained flag and guard rank from Guard ASW destroyer
Krasny Kavkaz. In 2003 the cruiser took part in
INDRA joint Russian-Indian naval exercise. In September 2004 it participated in
IONIEX-2004 joint Russian-Italian naval exercise. At the beginning of 2008 the cruiser was deployed at the Mediterranean along with Northern Fleet's ships –
Admiral Kuznetsov and its carrier group. On August 9-12, 2008 the ship was involved in armed conflict with Georgia at Abkhazian waters. Early 2009 it took part in memorial activities at Italian port Messina associated with 100th anniversary of ruinous earthquake at Sicily.
PERFORMANCE
Powerplant: gas turbine; 2 screws
Power: 4 x 22,500 shp
Maximum speed: 32 knots
Endurance: 30 days
Crew: 510 men
DIMENSIONS
Displacement: 9,800 tonnes (total displacement: 11,490 tonnes)
Length: 186.4 meters
Beam: 20.8 meters
Draft: 8.4 meters
ARMAMENT
16 antiship missile launchers (16
P-500 Bazalt missiles; after modernization – 16
P-1000 Vulkan missiles)
1 x 2 130-mm gun mount
AK-130, 6 sextuple 30-mm gun mounts
AK-630
8 x 8
B-204 launchers of
S-300F Rif SAM system (ammunition load is 64 missiles)
2 x 2 launchers of
Osa-MA SAM system (ammunition load is 48 missiles)
2 x 5 533-mm torpedo tubes
2 x 12
RBU-6000 antisubmarine rocket launchers
Ka-27 helicopter
Source: RusNavy.com, photo: cruiser Moskva (photo by A. Brichevsky from cruiser-moskva.info)
