Smooth Sailing: Advanced Russian Frigate Heads to Barents Sea for Trials

Sputnik News

16:31 21.03.2016(updated 16:35 21.03.2016)

The state-of-the-art Russian frigate Admiral Essen is due to conduct the second stage of its state tests in the Barents Sea later this month, according to Sergey Mikhailov, spokesman for the Kaliningrad-based Yantar shipyard.

Russia's second Project 11356 frigate, the Admiral Essen, will carry out the second stage of its state tests in the coming days, Segrey Mikhailov, spokesman for the Kaliningrad-based Yantar shipyard, was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying on Monday.

The frigate is set to leave the Russian port of Kronstadt for the Barents Sea in northern Russia on March 23, Mikhailov said, adding that the warship will return to the country's port of Kaliningrad in mid-April.

The Yantar shipyard is to build a total of six Project 11356 frigates for the Russian Navy under a contract with the country's Defense Ministry.

The lead warship in the series, the Admiral Grigorovich, was laid down in December 2010 and delivered to the Black Sea Fleet in August 2015. The keel of the Admiral Essen frigate was laid in July 2011.

The Project 11356 frigates, which displace about 4,000 tons, are designed for anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, both independently and as escort ships, and are also armed with air defense systems. Each of the 125-meter frigates has a speed of 30 knots and a crew of 180.

Among other weaponry, these frigates are armed with an eight-cell launcher for Kalibr and Klub anti-ship and surface-to-surface missiles, Shtil vertical-launch air defense missile systems, two torpedo tubes, an anti-submarine rocket system and a Ka-28 or Ka-31 helicopter, according to the website globalsecurity.org.

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