Project 775
Ropucha class
Tank Landing ship
The Project 775 Ropucha (in Polish - “toad”) Large Landing Ship (Bol'shoy Desatnyy Korabl' BDK) is a beachable, general-purpose LST-type design with bow and stern ramps for unloading vehicles. A slightly smaller successor to the Alligator class, they were all built in Poland three distinct production runs. The last three units were an improved version with some variations in detail. Many have been retired, and remaining units may be in reserve, given the Russian Navy's decreased emphasis on amphibious operations.
Given the designation Large Landing Ship, the Ropucha class of tank landing ship was produced in Poland for the Soviet Navy. Designed for roll-on, roll-off operations, the Ropucha design has both bow and stern doors, and the 630 square metres of vehicle deck stretches the length of the hull. The multi level supersturcture is designed to house two companies of naval infantry for extended periods. This, together with a 450 ton cargo capacity and the ability to carry 24 armoured vehicles, allowed the Soviet navy to employ the vessels on distant ocean operations. The collapse of the Soviet Union meant that capability was unlikely to be needed by Russia and the Ukraine, which inherited most of the ships of this class.
Until 1977, it qualified as medium landing ships. Length - 112.5 m, width - 15 m, draft - 4.26 m, full displacement - 4 th. Tons. Full speed - 17.6 knots. Cruising range - up to 4 thousand. Miles (about 7.4 thousand. Km). The power plant - diesel, two units Zgoda-Sulzer ("Zgoda-Sulzer") with a capacity of 9.6 thousand. Horsepower. Armament, depending on the version: 2 artillery pieces caliber 57 mm caliber gun mount 76.2 mm, setting multiple launch rocket systems "Grad-M ', two or four launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems" Strela "and" Igla ".
Desantovmestimost 10 medium tanks and 340 commandos, or 12 units of armored heavy vehicles (AFV) and 340 paratroopers or 500 tons of cargo. The crew, depending on the version: from 98 to 87 people (from 17 to 8 officers).
The class is not particularly well-characterized in the literature, and while all indicated names and numbers have been reported, the association of designations with the construction chronology is entirely conjectural, apart from the three Project 775M units. Although only 22 units have been identified through names or hull numbers, the production shipyard is quite specific that a total of 28 were produced.
According to open sources, by 2015 the ranks of the Navy of the Russian Federation consists of 15 BDK 775 project.
A report released 02 February 2022 by the monitoring group BlackSeaNews and the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies stated that in early February the number of Russian warships in the Black Sea would increase significantly. According to these data, from February 9, a group of 12 Russian landing ships may be formed off the coast of Ukraine to “carry out an operation with an amphibious landing in the Black and Azov Seas.” Experts clarified that six landing ships are already part of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
“6 landing ships of the Northern and Baltic fleets plus six landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet, which are underway, one is under repair. That is, these are 12 large landing ships, they can take on board 4-4.5 thousand marines, take one and a half hundred tanks or two and a half hundred other armored vehicles,” said the head of the monitoring group of the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies Andrei Klimenko 05 February 2022. Defense Express editor-in-chief Oleg Katkov told Krym.Realii that “if these six (Russian - KR ) large landing ships enter the Black Sea, it will be unprecedented, this has never happened before.”
Three large landing ships “Korolev”, “Kaliningrad” and “Minsk” of the Russian Baltic Fleet entered the Black Sea 08 February 2022, heading to Sevastopol, Andrei Klimenko, head of the monitoring group of the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies and editor-in-chief of the Crimean agency BlackSeaNews, told Krym.Realiya. On 09 February 2022, three large landing ships of the Russian Northern Fleet entered the Black Sea - “Petr Morgunov”, “Olenegorsky Miner” and “Georgy Pobedonostsev”. As the Russian agency Interfax reported , citing Istanbul information resources, they proceeded through the Bosporus from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. The day before, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the listed ships, along with three more large landing ships of the Baltic Fleet, which entered the Black Sea earlier , would take part in joint exercises.
The Russian full-scale military invasion of Ukraine has been ongoing since the morning of February 24, 2022. The large landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet were used to transport weapons and ammunition between the Black Sea Fleet naval base in Novorossiysk and the Crimean ports of Sevastopol, Feodosia and Kerch.
The crew of the large landing ship (BDK) "Caesar Kunikov" and specialists of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Shipyard 13 of the Black Sea Fleet" of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation were reported 10 January 2022 to have eliminated the identified malfunction on the ship's steering system. Maintenance and repair work was carried out directly at the ship's basing point without docking the ship at the ship repair enterprise. The ship has restored its technical readiness and is fully ready to carry out the tasks for its intended purpose in accordance with the plan of the Black Sea Fleet.
The commander of the large landing ship of the Black Sea Fleet "Caesar Kunikov" Alexander Chirva died during a special operation in Ukraine, Mikhail Razvozhaev, the governor of Sevastopol , said 18 April 2022. "Commander of the large landing ship "Caesar Kunikov" of the 197th brigade of landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet, captain of the 3rd rank. Alexander Grigorievich was born in Sevastopol. Graduated from the branch of the VUNTS of the Navy "Naval Academy" of the Naval Institute of Radio Electronics. A.S. Popova. In 2015 and 2016, he participated in a special operation on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. Oleksandr Chirva died from wounds received in battle with neo-Nazis in Ukraine. His courage, professionalism and experience saved the lives of the crew members." BDK-64 was named in honor of the Hero of the Soviet Union Caesar Lvovich Kunikov. The Caesar Kunikov was docked at Berdiansk very near to the Saratov when Saratov exploded.
On August 4, 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that two naval drones attacked a naval base in Novorossiysk overnight. Local Russian media reported that the landing ship, "Olenegorsky Gornyak", suffered damage. One source suggested that the "Olenegorsky Gornyak" sustained considerable damage, significantly hampering its combat capabilities. This account directly contrasts with Russia's assertion that they successfully repelled the attack. Until 1977, it was called "SDK-91", then - "BDK-91". On May 7, 2000, it was renamed "Olenyogorsk Miner" due to the fact that the Olenogorsk Mining and Processing Plant established the patronage over the ship. The satellite images released later by Planet Labs showed the damaged ship moored near the pier of the Novorossiysk naval base , black liquid (probably fuel) leaking from the hole into the water. Four days later, on August 8, 2023, the ship arrived at the dry dock north of the sea berths in Novorossiysk.
On 13 September 2023, Ukraine launched a cruise missile attack on the Sevastopol marine plant, where two ships were being repaired. It is believed that the strike on the Russian boat and landing ship in Sevastopol could have been carried out by Franco-British SCALP/Storm Shadow cruise missiles from aircraft of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation informed the damage to two ships, and the Russian public specified that it was a diesel-electric submarine "Rostov-on-Don" and a large amphibious assault ship "Minsk". They were in dry dock for repairs.
On the same day, the Russian Ministry of Defense informed that “two naval ships that were undergoing scheduled repairs at the Ordzhonikidze shipyard in the city of Sevastopol and were damaged as a result of a missile attack by the Kiev regime will be fully restored and will continue to serve in combat service as part of their fleets.” Work soon began to clear damaged compartments, and an assessment of the volume of upcoming restoration work is being carried out. Judging by the damage to the ship's hull, its further restoration may be impractical or expensive. These ships were built in Poland, so it will be difficult or impossible to restore Minsk.
The technical readiness of the large landing ship (LDC) "Minsk" of the Baltic Fleet, which was damaged during a Ukrainian missile attack, can be restored using units of a former ship of the Naval Forces (Navy Forces) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This was reported to TASS by a source in the Crimean ship repair industry. “We are considering the option of restoring the technical readiness of the Minsk landing craft through the use of systems and units of the Konstantin Olshansky, which is similar in design and “forgotten” since 2014,” the agency’s interlocutor said. In 2014, after the annexation of Crimea by Russia, the Ukrainian Navy abandoned about 20 ships on the peninsula, including the Konstantin Olshansky large landing ship.
On 26 December 2023 the Ropucha-class Novocherkask was promoted to a submarine. Ukraine attacked the port of Feodosia with SCALP/Storm Shadow. They hit large Ropucha-class landing ship Novocherkask that was carrying ammunition, including Shahed-drones. A huge explosion occured right after the attack. Parts of the Ropucha-class landing ship Novocherkask were found in different parts of Feodosia. The explosions and secondary detonations indicate the ship was carrying ammunition of some sort. During the morning, the Novocherkask was still burning. Ukrainian army announced on 14 February 2024 that it had "destroyed" a Russian warship off the shores of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed. “The Ukrainian Armed Forces together with military intelligence units destroyed a large landing ship (Tsar Kunikov),” the Army Staff said via Telegram. The source added, "Magura V5 attack naval drones attacked the enemy ship off the coast of temporarily occupied Crimea near the city of Alupka." The Russian Ministry of Defense did not issue any comment on the attack, but confirmed that it shot down six Ukrainian drones “over the waters of the Black Sea.” The Ukrainian newspaper "Ukrainska Pravda" reported that Ukrainian drones bombed a large Russian landing ship off the coast of Crimea and caused damage to it.
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