Destroyer "Persistent" of the Russian B altic Fleet

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The flagship of the Russian B altic Fleet - the destroyer "Persistent" - is a representative of the class of destroyers of the "Modern" type. According to the classification, this is a 1st class warship, equipped with missile weapons and capable of operating independently away from groupings, in the far ocean zone. In the Navy, he received the unofficial name "Nastya".

Compromise

At the end of the 60s, when the existing ships of the fleet, which had morally obsolete artillery weapons, were approaching, moreover, the physical limit of their operation, it was decided to start creating a new class of military ships. First, the naval authorities ordered ships, the main task of which would be to support landings and combat aircraft. In addition to this type, there was a desire to additionally receive ships capable of fighting submarines and surface ships of a potential enemy. However, after appropriate calculations, we were forced to come to the conclusion that the country simply will not pull suchmassive expenses. As a result, they agreed that it is necessary to build universal ships capable of solving both the tasks of supporting ground units and countering enemy fleets.

The result of this conditional compromise between the desires of the military and the capabilities of the country were the destroyers of the class "Modern". An additional impetus for this decision was the start of designing similar universal destroyers of the Spruence class in the United States. As a result, it was not possible to make a completely universal ship, the protection against submarines was “limping”.

Destroyer in numbers

In total, Severnaya Verf in St. Petersburg built 21 Sovremenny-class ships, of which 4 are serving in the PRC fleet. The destroyer Persistent, launched in 1991, is still in service and is the flagship of the B altic Fleet. Its main characteristics are shown in the following table:

Displacement, tons	6600 - standard; 8000 - full
Maximum length, meters	156, 5
Maximum width, meters	17, 2
Draft, meters	8, 2
Maximum speed, knots	33, 4
Cruising range, nautical miles	1345 at 33 knots and 3920 at 18 knots
Autonomy of navigation, days	30
Crew, people	296 - peacetime; 358 - wartime
Power plant	2 boiler turbine units GTZA-674
Total power, l. s.	100,000

The ship is equipped with a rather archaic boiler-turbine plant, producing a total of 100,000 horsepower, and frantically smoking when starting and changing the operating mode. In the city of B altiysk, the place of its deployment, peculiar jokes even appeared: “Nastya is visible beyond the horizon” or “the whole city knows when Nastya is launched.” That is, there is enough smoke from it. Nevertheless, it is the presence of such a powerful ship that allows us to call the fleet - a fleet, and not a flotilla. Its armament allows it to support ground forces with artillery fire from two AK-130MR-184 mounts firing 130 mm caliber shells at a rate of 90 rounds per minute at a distance of up to 23 km.

In addition, there are two AK-630 multi-purpose rapid-fire artillery mounts, 30 mm caliber and 5,000 rounds per minute, capable of also protecting the ship from air attack. To combat surface ships, the destroyer is equipped with Moskit-M missiles, four launchers on each side, and for air defense, the armament includes the Hurricane-Tornado system with 48 missiles.

Somewhat worse is the situation with the fight against enemy submarines. Despite the existing anti-submarine bomber RBU-1000, installed both on the stern and on the bow of the vessel, as well as two torpedo launchers, the destroyer "Persistent" project 956 is able to protect only itself from torpedo attacks and destroy the submarine only onat close range and at shallow depths. Initially, it was assumed that these destroyers would operate in conjunction with Project 1155 Udaloy anti-submarine ships, mutually complementing each other's capabilities. The Ka-27 helicopter completes the list of weapons on board.

Combat path of the ship

The destroyer "Persistent" (tail number 610) spent more than two years at sea out of 25 years of service in the Navy. This quarter-century anniversary was celebrated in B altiysk in 2018.

Until 1991, the destroyer was called "Leninsky Komsomol". The ship traveled over 70,000 nautical miles, more than a quarter of that total in 1997, on one long voyage to southern Africa, to Cape Town, where she took part in the South African Navy Day celebrations. Nelson Mandela himself, who at that time was the president of this country, even got on board. And before that, the ship was demonstrated at the international arms exhibition in Abu Dhabi, where it made an exceptionally strong impression on the audience.

"Persistent" participated in many campaigns, visited the ports of Germany, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, France. It was the first Russian warship to pass through the Kiel Canal. Twice it was recognized as the best surface ship of the Russian Navy in 1996 and 1997, three times presidents of countries were received on its deck. In addition to President Mandela, B. Yeltsin went on board in 1996, and D. Medvedev in 2011.

The destroyer "Persistent" took part in numerous exercises and live firing, invariablyshowing excellent results. The ship was the base for training Chinese crews in 1999. It also provided testing of new models of naval equipment. Recently, however, going out to sea has been sporadic. The destroyer "Persistent" is clearly unlucky in connection with the events in Syria. Its entry into the Mediterranean to reinforce the Russian grouping has already been announced twice, and twice this campaign has been cancelled. It happened in 2013 and it happened again in 2018.

Repair, repair again

For a person, 25 years old is still youth, but for a ship, it is already late maturity. Separate systems fail, metal wears out, wiring is damaged. In 2018, the destroyer was at the 33rd shipyard at her home base in B altiysk. Judging by the procurement plan published by this enterprise, it can be understood that the main problem was the boilers of the main power plant, as well as the automatic control system for boilers and radio stations from the Cadmium-R complex. Deliveries of components were to be made before August 2018. It can be assumed that it is technical problems that do not allow the destroyer "Persistent" to join the group of ships in the Mediterranean Sea. Its full commissioning is possible (taking into account the time for testing and extremely likely delays) not earlier than the beginning of 2019.

Yellow press

The yellow press did not miss the description of the destroyer "Persistent". The emphasis is on the abundance of the sons of the tallmilitary commanders on this ship. Service there is considered prestigious, because it is the main battleship of the B altic Fleet, and gives the "green light" for the rapid career of young officers with family ties. For sailors, the destroyer is not very attractive. A certain "ceremonial" status of the ship imposes additional requirements on them. Cases of hazing were noted, one of which was the punishment of ordinary sailors for drinking beer by placing them in a cold compartment. There have been cases of casu alties among personnel, the last of which was in 2014, when, due to the late delivery of a sailor to the hospital, he fell into a coma and died.

Russian and Chinese are brothers forever

The "youngest" destroyers - the "brothers" of the Persistent - serve in the Chinese Navy. They were completed from the Soviet backlog, previously intended for their own fleet, and received the names "Hangzhou", "Fujou", "Taijou" and "Ningbo". The Chinese press immediately dubbed them "aircraft carrier killers". The last two ships were commissioned in 2004-2006. The Chinese paid $1.5 billion for them.