Since the beginning of the military campaign in Syria, Russia has sent several naval battle groups to the eastern Mediterranean to support the war on terror, including the Admiral Grigorovich frigate, and support ships. International demand for Russian-made warships has skyrocketed since Moscow launched a military operation in Syria.
The Black Sea Fleet is one of the most historic forces in the Russian Navy. Experiencing many ups and downs after the Soviet Union disintegrated, this fleet became one of the strategic units of the world’s most powerful army. This is a fleet of advanced Russian weapons, from nuclear cruisers, Kalibr cruise missiles, strategic nuclear submarines to modern fighter aircraft.
Admiral Grigorovich frigate and her sisters in the 11356 project are among the newest additions to the black sea fleet. These new generation warships will reinforce the power of the Russian navy, helping them confidently carry out strategic deterrence missions to ensure regional security in the Southwestern Strategic Direction. Recent situations in Crimea and Syria have demonstrated the need to develop and strengthen the Black Sea Fleet. If the attacks were launched against targets in Syria from the Caspian Sea, the Russian Black Sea Fleet would have complete control of the situation.
Admiral Grigorovich with the hull number 745 represents the new destroyer series of Project 11356, and is the lead ship of her class. The frigates of this project are designed to destroy enemy surface warships, submarines and ground bases, conducting patrols to protect sea routes.
Project 11356’s frigates are a further development of the Talwar class, a missile frigate project that Russia built and exported to India since 1999. All are the successor of the project 1135 patrol boats built in the Soviet Union primarily for the Soviet Navy since 1970. At that time, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, with a developed production infrastructure and a strong scientific foundation, which provided gas turbine engines for the entire federation. After the Soviet Union disintegrated, production cooperation activities continued to be carried out between Russia and Ukraine under cooperation agreements.
According to the original plan, Russia will build 6 frigate of Project 11356. All these ships will be fitted with engine manufactured at the Zorya-Mashproekt State-owned factory of Ukraine. When a coup occurred in Ukraine in 2014, a war broke out against Russia. And Russia has suffered as a result, the production links connected with Ukraine over the past several decades of history have been broken.
Russia has encountered very specific problems that have unpredictable consequences in the future. Kiev froze defense cooperation with Russia and refused to provide gas turbines. The missile frigates were being built, they are needed for the fleet, money is not a problem but without an engine they will remain in the factory forever. Thankfully Russia received 3 of the 6 engines it ordered and was able to complete 3 warships of this class: Admiral Grigorovich, Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov. These ships are currently part of the Black Sea Fleet.
Admiral Grigorovich is greatly appreciated, a modern frigate armed with powerful missiles. The Russian warship has a standard displacement of 3,620 tons and more than 4,000 tons under full load. Other parameters include a length of 124.8m, a beam of 15.2m and a draft of 4.2m. The crew is 200 people, the ship can operate continuously at sea for one month before requesting supplies. The topside and hull have a significantly reduced radar cross-section, while the superstructure faces are sloped and relatively clean. The main mast of the ship is quite messy and without any signature reduction features, this is where the main radars are located. The hull is characterized by flames and the tumblehome facing outwards, while the superstructure has a large fixed tumblehome angle.
The heart of the frigate is a combined gas and gas propulsion system driving 2 shaft, incorporating two DS-71 cruise gas turbines and two DT-59 boost gas turbines coming from Ukraine. The propulsion system generates a maximum capacity of 56,000 horsepower. The propulsion system ensures a maximum speed of 30 knots and cruising range of 4,850 nauticalmile at 14 knots.
Admiral Grigorovich’s main radar is the Fregat M2M air search radar, the surface search radar are 3Ts-25 Garasta-B, MR-212 and Nucleus-2 6000A. In addition, she is also equipped with a hull-mounted sonar, SNN-137 towed active array sonar. The weapon systems are controlled by JSC 5P-10 Puma, 3R14N-11356 and MR-90 Orekh SAM fire control systems. Countermeasures are provided by ASOR-11356 Electronic Counter Measures system and PK-10 close-range decoy dispensing system, which includes four KT-216-E decoy dispenser.
The main task of the frigate is air defense, escorting other warships and anti-submarine warfare, Admiral Grigorovich is equipped with extremely modern weapons systems. The anti-ship weapon is an 8-cell vertical launch system for the Kalibr or Zircon anti-ship cruise missiles which have a range of up to 600 km. In terms of air-to-air weapons, the ship is equipped with three 12-cell vertical launch system for Shtil-1 air defense missiles. A total of 36 missiles are available to use, the missiles are capable of destroying up to 12 targets at a time within 50km and altitude up to 15,000m.
In addition, the ship is also equipped with an Igla anti-aircraft missile complex with 8 missiles. For close-range defense, the ship is capable of defending with two AK-630 Close-In Weapon Systems. The ship also features a powerful A-190 Arsenal naval gun, the fastest firing speed in the world with 80 rounds per minute, effective combat range is 20km. Against submarines, the ship uses two twin 533 mm torpedo tubes for heavyweight torpedoes. Also there is a single 12-barrel RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launcher in front of the bridge, reload rockets are stored below the deck. The ship also has a flight deck and hangar for Ka-27 or Ka-31 helicopters. In general, this is a missile frigate equipped with weapons to the teeth.
Admiral Grigorovich has been in service with the Russian Black Sea Fleet since 2016. During the operation of the Russian army in Syria, Admiral Grigorovich participated in a large-scale campaign to attack strike targets in Syria by launching Kalibr cruise missiles.
Currently, the Black Sea fleet has only the Slava-class Moskva cruiser capable of anti-aircraft defense for the fleet, due to its S-300F air defense system, with a range of up to150 km. With the presence of the project 11356 ships, the anti-aircraft capabilities of the black sea fleet were greatly increased. With powerful ships, equipped with a variety of modern weapons, the Black Sea Fleet is enough to cool the “hot heads” of any opponent.
