BSF flagship cruiser Moskva left Suez Canal behind

16.04.2010 Black Sea Fleet (BSF) flagship Guard missile cruiser Moskva has passed Suez Canal and heads for Indian Ocean, informs RIA Novosti referring to the Navy Press Service.

The crew feels well, the ship's arms and equipment operate normally, added the source.

Cruiser Moskva will hold exercise in distant ocean zone along with Northern Fleet (NF) flagship heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Petr Veliky.

On Apr 9 cruiser Moskva left Sevastopol to carry out a long-range cruise. The ship is going to perform combat training tasks in Indian and Pacific oceans. On March 30 heavy nuclear-powered cruiser Petr Veliky sailed off Severomorsk and headed for Indian Ocean.

Moskva is a lead ship of Project 1164 Atlant .

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 she secured Soviet side at meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev, Secretary General of USSR 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 she obtained flag and guard rank from Guard destroyer Krasny Kavkaz decommissioned from BSF. In 2003 the cruiser took part in INDRA joint Russian-Indian naval exercise. In September 2004 she 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. Early 2009 she 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 tons (total displacement – 11,490 tons)
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 x 6-barreled 30-mm gun mounts AK-630
8 x 8 B-204 launchers of S-300F Rif SAM system (64 missiles)
2 x 2 launchers of Osa-MA SAM system (48 missiles)
2 x 5 533-mm torpedo tubes
2 x 12 RBU-6000 antisubmarine rocket launchers
Ka-27 helicopter