Russian Navy Black Sea fleet will get the Retivy corvette of project 20380 by the end of the year.

The Russian Navy Black Sea fleet will get the Retivy Steregushchiy-class corvette of project 20380 by the end of the year. It was built with stealth technologies and can engage in patrol, protect caravans of vessels and defend them against air and underwater strikes. Experts believe the Retivy will reinforce the strategic southern direction, the Izvestia daily writes.
Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

Stoikiy Steregushchiy-class corvette Russian designation Project 20380. (Picture source Twitter account Jimmie Chan)

Russian Navy sources said the corvette is to join the Black Sea fleet by the end of the year. However, the handover may take place in 2021. The fleet has already formed the crew who arrived in St. Petersburg is early May. Officers and men are in the training center to study the arms and equipment of the warship. The Retivy will be the first warship of project 20380 in the Black Sea fleet which will later receive another two corvettes.

The universal corvettes will strengthen the Black Sea fleet and the whole strategic southern direction, former Navy Chief-of-Staff Admiral Valentin Selivanov said. “It is difficult for small ships to stay away from the bases for a long time. They operate in the brown waters, mostly in the Black Sea. However, two-three warships can create a mobile group in the Mediterranean Sea to patrol and escort civilian vessels. The Syrian seaport of Tartus with a Russian naval base is fit for the rest of the crews, replenishing stocks and doing small overhaul,” he said.

“Previously, corvettes were engaged in blue waters because of a lack of warships,” expert Dmitry Boltenkov said. “Baltic fleet corvettes sailed to the North Atlantic and the Red Sea, Pacific fleet corvettes visited the South China Sea. The sorties showed the project was successful, as there were no major breakdowns,” he said.

The strike fist of the Black Sea fleet comprises diesel-electric submarines of project 636.3 and frigates of project 11356 with Kalibr missiles, as well as the Moskva cruiser flagship. The Retivy with powerful antiship missiles and air defense will reinforce them, he said.

The corvette can replace three types of warships — small antisubmarine ships and small missile ships and boats, Selivanov said. It will effectively do it with modern equipment and arms.

Project 20380 corvettes were designed with stealth technologies. The superstructure is made of multilayered composite materials to decrease the radar signature.

The underwater hull was designed to decrease water resistance by quarter at a speed of 30 knots. The speed thus increased 1.5-2 knots.

The Retivy is armed with Uran antiship complex with Kh-35 missiles. One missile can destroy a warship with a displacement of 5 thousand tons. The corvette also has a 100mm universal artillery gun A-190 with a range of 21.3 km and a rate of fire of 80 shots per minute. Its turret was built with stealth technologies.

The air defense is provided by Redut missile complex. It is the most powerful and effective seaborne antiaircraft weapon which can simultaneously strike at 16 targets, the Izvestia said.

© Copyright 2020 TASS Navy Recognition. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.