Neustrashimyy-class frigate


The Neustrashimy class, Soviet designation Project 11540 Yastreb, is a series of large frigates built for the Soviet Navy and currently in service with the Russian Navy. Seven ships were planned for the Soviet Navy, but the fall of the Soviet Union disrupted those plans. Two ships were completed, both currently in active service with the Russian Baltic Fleet.

Design and construction

The class was designed as a general purpose anti-submarine warfare frigate to follow on from the s. The ship is equipped with a newly designed Zvezda-1 integrated sonar system as its primary ASW sensor.
The program started in 1986 and seven ships were originally planned. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the project was frozen and only one ship, Neustrashimy, was in active service with the Russian Baltic Fleet by the mid 1990s. On 24 February 2009 the second ship in the class, Yaroslav Mudry, left the Yantar shipyard in Russia's Kaliningrad for its first sea trials. As of 2010, both Neustrashimyy and Yaroslav Mudry are operational with the Baltic Fleet.
The ships were built by Yantar Yard, Kaliningrad. Only Neustrashimy was completed by the time the Soviet Union collapsed. Two further ships were incomplete. Yaroslav Mudry and Tuman. As of 2009, the frigate Yaroslav Mudry has begun sea trials and entered service.

Service history

2008–2009 deployment to Somalia

In late September 2008, Neustrashimy left the Baltic Fleet and was sent to the Gulf of Aden waters off the Somali coast to fight piracy in the region. Russian navy spokesman Captain Igor Dygalo told the Associated Press that the missile frigate Neustrashimy had left the Baltic Sea port of Baltiisk a day before the hijacking to cooperate with other unspecified countries in anti-piracy efforts. As of 27 October, the frigate was operating independently in the vicinity of a group of NATO warships near the Somali coast. On 11 November, Neutrashimy helped capture suspected pirates along with Royal Marines from ; the suspected pirates had been attempting to board the merchant vessel. On 16 November 2008, the frigate prevented pirates from capturing Saudi Arabian ship.

Further deployment

In June 2016 Yaroslav Mudry was part of a maritime incident between Russian and United States navies in which the ship came in close proximity to in the Mediterranean, though both sides claim the other was at fault for the encounter. The American destroyer came within of the Russian vessel.
In April 2018, Yaroslav Mudry and Uda-class oiler Lena were escorted by the Royal Navy frigate as they were passing through the English Channel en route to the Mediterranean Sea.
Yaroslav Mudry was again seen passing the English Channel on 1 November 2018.

Ships

Building

The work on Tuman was suspended in late 1993 when about 47% complete due to lack of funding. In 1996 was launched to clear space in slip, and was subsequently laid up in 1998 to clear space in dry dock. In April 2016 the director of the Yantar shipyard announced the incomplete hulk was to be scrapped as the high cost of completing the ship to an outdated design was considered inefficient and the space freed up by its disposal could be employed on more cost-effective projects.