Russian Navy to commission 5 Alexandrit-class minesweepers until 2022

The Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard of Russia plans to deliver five Project 12700 mine countermeasures ships to the Russian Navy in 2020-2022, the shipyard shared with its annual report published on 23rd June.

The shipyard’s materials indicate the timeframe of delivering the minesweepers to the Navy: the Yakov Balyayev in 2020, the Georgy Kurbatov in 2020, the Pyotr Ilyichev in 2021, the Anatoly Shlemov in 2022 and the minesweeper with the factory No. 528 in 2022.

Russia’s Project 12700 Alexandrit-class coastal-type minesweepers are referred to the new generation of minesweeping forces and are designated to fight sea mines, which the new ships can encounter in the sea and on the seabed without entering the dangerous zone. The minesweepers can employ various sweeps, as well as remotely controlled and autonomous underwater drones. The minesweepers of this Project displace about 800 tonnes, are 62 meters long, have a crew of 44 men and an operating range of 1,500 miles.

The Project 12700 minesweepers developed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau are under construction at the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard in northwestern Russia (both companies are part of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation). The Russian Navy has already received three minesweepers of this Project.

The Project 12700 mine countermeasures vessels (minesweepers) have the world’s biggest hull made of monolithic fiberglass formed by vacuum infusion. As its advantage, this solution provides for the ship’s higher strength compared to the steel hull. The hull made of the monolithic fiberglass has a longer service life (up to 30 years) than the hull made of low-magnetic steel while its weight is considerably smaller.

This year, the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard plans to lay down the eighth Project 12700 Alexandrit-class minesweeper.