Russians are likely to scrap their flagship in the Baltic Sea
The Russian Baltic Fleet is likely to have received a new flagship, the large anti-submarine ship Severomorsk Project 1155, which previously belonged to the Northern Fleet but has been in the Baltic Sea for more than a year.
Here's What We Know
The flagship of the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy is officially the Soviet-built Project 956 destroyer Nastoistyvayuschiy, one of the last two ships of this class in Russia. However, it has not been at sea since 2022, and there is no news about it, which may indicate that it has been decommissioned and is being prepared for scrapping. This was reported by Army Recognition, citing Russian sources.
Russia relies on small ships in the Baltic. The fleet is based on five corvettes of the 21631 Buyan-M project and four corvettes of the 22800 Karakurt project, all of which are equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles. It also has seven missile boats and six anti-submarine corvettes.
The Russian Baltic Fleet destroyer "Nastoyavlenniy" Illustration: flot.com
Among the large surface ships in the Baltic Sea, there are two Project 11540 Yastreb patrol vessels (without anti-ship weapons) and four Project 20380 corvettes (with anti-ship weapons), which are more like light frigates.
The main weapons of the Project 956 destroyers were P-270 Mosquito missiles. The possible decommissioning of the Nastoyaschiy may indicate a shift in emphasis to anti-submarine defence. However, Russia's strategy in the region remains unchanged - a reliance on the Mosquito fleet, while the construction of new destroyers for the Russian Navy is currently impossible.
"The Nastoyavlenniy has been in service for about 30 years. Its total displacement was 8,000 tonnes, its length was 156 metres and its width was 17 metres. The last Project 956 destroyer in the Russian Navy is the Admiral Ushakov in the Northern Fleet.
Source: Army Recognition
