Project 133.1
Parchim class

The Parchim class was designed for defensive and patrol operations in the narrow, shallow seas of the Baltic. They were built in East Germany for the Soviet Navy in payment for Soviet economic and military aid. All units were delivered between 1986 and 1990, and were probably acquired as a subsidy for the East German shipbuilding industry. The Parchim-II in Russian service is a modified version of the former East German Parchim I-class covettes (now in the Indonesian Navy).

They are generally inferior to the contemporary Soviet-built Grisha in many [but not all] respects. Once out of shallow, littoral waters, their value would be slight. Of the 68 Project 1124 Small Anti-Submarine Ships/corvettes (Grisha class) constructed in the Soviet period, about 28 Project 1124M (Grisha V class) remained in service in 2004. The impossibility of replacing the afterburning gas turbines of their power plants was one of the main reasons for striking so many. The twelve [as of 2004] diesel vessels of Project 1131M (Parchim II class) Baltic Small Anti-Submarine Ships/corvettes built in the German Democratic Republic fared much better, having entered German shipyards for medium repairs in the 1990s.