Grisha V / Grisha II Corvette
"ALBATROS" PROJECT 1124M CORVETTE
Various sources report as many as six Grisha class crovettes of various types transferred to Ukraine. The Grisha V is an ASW-oriented patrol ships. First unit taken over while under construction; four additional were to be built, one was completed early on, another rather later, and the other two were cancelled. A pair of former Soviet border guard Grisha II units were transferred to the Ukranian border guard, then to the Ukranian navy. A pair of Grisha IIIs, said to have been transferred in 1997 witn one entering service in 2002, is only attested by one source.
Harpoon reports "A single Grisha III, MPK-104, was rebuilt in 1984 as a testbed for the Kynshal (SA-N-9 “Gauntlet”) SAM VLS and Podkat (“Cross Sword”) radar. In 1991 Russia transferred the ship to Ukraine during the division of the Soviet Black Sea fleet, to eat up allocated tonnage. Ukraine never attempted to make the ship operational." World Warships reports a pair of Grisha V and a pair of Grisha II in service as of 2012. There is the usual confusion among sources as to pennant numbers.
A corvette is a small, fast naval vessel ranking in size below a frigate. During World War II the Royal Navy applied the term to small antisubmarine vessels escorting convoys in the Atlantic. Modern corvettes, generally displacing from 400 to 1,200 tons and armed with missiles, torpedoes, and machine guns, perform antisubmarine, antiaircraft, and coastal-patrol duties in the world’s small navies.
The Ukrainian Navy have been taking active part in BLACKSEAFOR activities SINCE 2001. The following Ukrainianvessels were sequentially assigned to participate in the BLACKSEAFOR activities: the ship “Cherkasy” in 2001, the ship“Slavutych” in 2002, the corvette “Vinnitsa” in 2003, the medium amphibious landing ship “Kirovograd” in 2004, the ship“Slavutych” and the rescue tugboat “Kremenets” in 2005, the ship “Slavutych” in 2006, the ship “Slavutych” in 2007, thecorvette “Ternopyl” and the ship “Slavutych” in 2008, the ship “Slavutych” in 2009.
Ternopol (U209), a Grisha V class anti-submarine corvette of the Ukrainian Navy, was laid down on stocks on April 23, 1991 at OJSC «Leninskaya kuznya», according to the contract for its construction between the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the leadership of the plant. The construction lasted long eleven years, until March 15, 2002, when the ship was launched. In 2005, the Corvette "Ternopol" was towed doen the Dnieper River from Kiev to Kherson. And then he arrived at the main base of the naval forces of Ukraine for conducting acceptance tests. On 16 February 2006 Defense Minister Anatoliy Gritsenko presented the naval flag to Captain 2nd rank Sergey Ìzotovu.
The Ternopil, displacing 1,100 tons, is 80 metres long: the top deck is 9 metres wide. It is armed with various weapon complexes and sophisticated devices: antiaircraft missiles; antisubmarine missiles and bombs; hydroacoustic, radar and other equipment. The Ternopil can sail at a speed of 31 knots, or 56 kilometres per hour. The crew is made of 65 sailors, 5 naval noncommissioned officers, and 20 commissioned officers.
Active Endeavour operates in the Mediterranean Sea and is designed to prevent the movement of terrorists or weapons of mass destruction, as well as to enhance the security of shipping in general. Ukraine was the second country after Russia outside the NATO alliance to join the Active Endeavour mission in the Mediterranean. Under Operation Active Endeavour, NATO ships patrolled the Mediterranean and monitoring shipping to help detect and protect against terrorist activity. The operation was launched as NATO's response to the terrorist attacks against the United States of 11 September 2001.
Following the 2008 armed conflict in Georgia, the United States refused to let Russian ships participate in Active Endeavor.
The Ternopil joined the NATO-led Operation Active Endeavor naval antiterrorism exercise in November 2008. The Ternopil (U209), joined the operation in the Mediterranean and remain under NATO's operational command for 30 days, after which returned to its base in Sevastopol.
Russian and Ukrainian warships arrived in the Ukrainian Black Sea town of Odessa for May 2010 Victory Day celebrations. The Ternopil and the Caesar Kunikov, a Ropucha-I class large landing ship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, arrived to Odessa on 04 May 2010.
The corvette Ternopol sailed off from the Black Sea port of Sevastopol to join the NATO's Active Endeavour mission in the Mediterranean, the press office of Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on 07 November 2011. "I am pleased to say that the Ternopol corvette is participating for the fifth time in the Active Endeavour mission," Viktor Maksimov, the Ukrainian navy chief, said. The corvette was expected during its patrols in the Mediterranean Sea to conduct training and implement practical steps to monitor civilian shipping. In addition, the crew would collect and view information about suspicious vessels and accompany ships with important cargoes.
In October 2013 Ternopil was on a patrol within the NATO Active Endeavors counter-piracy operation. The ship has visited the logistic base in Greece before; and the crew spent 40 days scheduled in the Mediterranean Sea . The personnel executed monitoring of the civil navigation, collection and processing of information on suspicious vessels, convoy and provide countermining support of the civil navigation.
In early March 2014 Ukrainian Navy units in Crimea remained cut off as pro-Russian radicals turned off electricity and water supplies, and blocked entrances to military units. On 03 March 2014 Acting President of Ukraine, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov communicated with the commander of “Ternopil” corvette who said that “if Maidan managed to defend against armed criminals without weapons, shall we not follow their example and yield up our ship?” There is an extremely dangerous situation with the Naval Fleet, noted the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada. Russian military men have blocked our warships in Sevastopol bays. “At present, they keep constantly threatening that in case our seamen do not yield up warships and lay down arms they will seize Ukrainian naval ships.”
In a telephone conversation with Ternopil Mayor Serhiy Nadal, the captain of the Ukrainian Navy's corvette Ternopil, Maksym Yemelianenko, said that the ship had been completely cut off from the land. "The waterways that were previously used to deliver food to the corvette staff have currently been blocked by unidentified armed men," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported on 05 March 2014.
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