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2nd Grigorovich Class Frigate (Pr. 11356) for Russian Navy Gearing Up for Sea Trials - TASS

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Naval Forces News - Russia
 
 
 
2nd Grigorovich Class Frigate (Pr. 11356) for Russian Navy Gearing Up for Sea Trials - TASS
 
The Yantar Shipyard (JSC "Baltic Shipyard" Yantar) in Kaliningrad building the Admiral Essen frigate for the Russian Navy is completing the preparations for its manufacturer’s trials and for putting it out to sea in the Baltic for the first time, the shipyard’s press officer, Sergei Mikhailov, told TASS on Tuesday.
     
The Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad building the Admiral Essen frigate for the Russian Navy is completing the preparations for its manufacturer’s trials and for putting it out to sea in the Baltic for the first time, the shipyard’s press officer, Sergei Mikhailov, told TASS on Tuesday.
Admiral Grigorovich Frigate (left) first ship of the class (Project 11356) and second ship of the class Admiral Essen (right) moored at Yantar Shipyard. 19/10/15 Picture by Drakon 64 / forums.airbase.ru
     
"The Admiral Essen - the second in the six-ship family of Project 11356 [NATO reporting name: Admiral Grigorovich class] frigates - has left the shipyard’s harborage and moved to the acceptance facility in the port of Baltiisk via a seaway channel," Mikhailov said.

Yantar’s press officer also said the frigate might start its factory trials "any day now", but offered no specific date. Then, the ship will put out to sea for the first time.

There are the crew, trial crew and representatives of the subcontractors aboard the Admiral Essen. The Project 11356 Admiral Essen frigate was laid down by Yantar in 2011 and set afloat in November last year. It is scheduled for delivery before year-end.

The official trials of the project’s lead ship, the Admiral Grigorovich slated for delivery in November this year, are in full swing. The two ships are to be assigned to the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet. Under two contracts placed by the Russian Defense Ministry, Yantar will build a six-unit series of Project 11356 patrol ships developed by the Severnoye Design Bureau.

The ships of the class are designed for fighting enemy surface combatants and submarines and providing air defense on the high seas both independently and as part of naval formations. Meanwhile, it has emerged that the first three Project 11356 frigates have been furnished with their organic M7N.1E gas-turbine power plants, while there is no power plants to fit the other three. The M7N.1E was developed and made by Ukrainian manufacturer Zorya-Mashproyet in the city of Nikolayev. It comprises two DT59.1 gas-turbine booster engines 19,500 hp each and two DS-71 cruising engines 9,000 hp each. There are two M7N.1Es per ship. Following the termination of the Russian-Ukrainian military technical cooperation, Zorya-Mashproyekt cut the delivery of the gas-turbine power plants to Yantar. An arms trade source has told TASS in this connection that the other three Project 11356 frigates initially earmarked for the Russian Navy might be offered for export.

"The [Russian] Defense Ministry is redistributing the money set aside for the other three frigates to other ships it needs badly. One of the proposals resultant from meetings of Defense Ministry and Federal Military Technical Cooperation Service officials has been to offer the ships for export," the source said.

He specified that the first three frigates of Project 11356 would be completed for the Black Sea Fleet, because the manufacturer has all relevant components, including the propulsion units.

At the same time, Russian engine manufacturer Saturn in the city of Rybinsk is to develop and build the power plants for the other three ships under the import substitution program. Since the power plants cannot be made before 2019-2020, this does not suit the Navy. The Indian Navy, which operates six ships in the class, has been keen on acquiring the three Project 11356 frigates. Indian Ambassador to Russia Pundi Srinivasan Raghavan has said India would do its best so that the Russian frigates are built for the Indian Navy. He explained that India could take steps to resolve the problems with the Ukrainian power plants required for the ships.

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