Kronshtadt-class submarine chaser

project 122bis, Kronshtadt Class chaser
Class overview
Builders: Zelenodolsk shipbuilding yard No. 340
Operators:  Soviet Navy
 Albanian Naval Defense Forces
 Bulgarian Navy
 People's Liberation Army Navy
 Cuban Navy
 Indonesian Navy
 Polish Navy
 Romanian Naval Forces
Preceded by: SO1 class submarine chaser
Succeeded by: Poti class corvette
Completed: 227
General characteristics
Class and type:Large submarine chasers
since 1956 — Small anti-submarine ships
Displacement:289 (I series) / 302 (II series) ton standard, 325 (I series) / 337,7 tons full load
Length:52.24 m (171.4 ft)
Beam:6.55 m (21.5 ft)
Draft:2.2 m (7.2 ft)
Propulsion:3 diesel engines @ 3,600 hp "General Motors" (I series) / 3,300 hp "9D" (II series) with 3 shafts
Speed:20.5 (I series) / 18.7 (II series) knots
Range:2600-3500 nm at 12 knots
Complement:50-54
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Radar: 1 "Giuys-1" or "Zarya" (I series) / "Lin`" or/and "Neptun" (II series) search radar
  • Sonar: 1 "Tamir-9" or "Tamir-10" or "Tamir-11" hull mounted high frequency active sonar
Armament:
  • 1 x 90K dual purposes 85 mm gun
  • 2 x 70К 37mm guns (2x1)
    • 6 x "Colt-Browning" or 2M-1 12.7 mm heavy machine guns (2x3) (I series)
    • 6 x 2M-7 14.5 mm (2x3) (last ships of II series)
  • 2 depth charge rails (30 large & 30 small depth charges)
  • 2 x BMB-1 or BMB-2 ASW mortars
  • 2 x RBU (II series) or 2 x RBU-1200 (last ships of II series) rocket launchers
  • 16 Type 1908/39 mines (overload)
Armor:8 mm (conning tower)

Project 122bis (NATO codename Kronshtadt class) submarine chasers were a Soviet design which were exported throughout the communist bloc in the 1950s. The first ship, BO-270, was built at Zelenodolsk in 1945-1947 and a total of 227 were built for Soviet Navy (175) and border guard until 1955. As well as this, twenty Project 357 (Libau class) despatch vessels were built on the same hull, but were unarmed.

Service history

The ships served in 1950s–1960s on all Soviet fleets and flotillas in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Arctic Ocean and Pacific Ocean as part of Soviet coastal anti-submarine defences. Ships were also given to the Soviet Border Guard and were used actively as border patrol ships. Most of the Soviet sub-chasers were decommissioned between 1958 and 1970, although some were in service until the 1990s as training stations. 13 of the decommissioned and disarmed ships were delivered to the DOSAAF Voluntary Society for using as training ships.

Ships

Export and transferring

Chinese service history

Two boats of this class, #271 & #274 participated in the Sino-South Vietnamese naval battle in the Paracel Islands on January 19, 1974, with #274 heavily damaged. However, #274 was able to make it back to the Yongxing Island for emergency repair after the battle, and returned to Hainan Islands the next day.

Despite their obsolescence, these boats remained active well into the mid-1990s. Although the ships are no longer capable venturing into open ocean, these units remain on the People's Liberation Army Navy’s list of its reserve fleet, actively used as weaponry training boats for naval militia in various military maritime districts in China.

The second mission of this class is to take Chinese children enrolled in military / naval summer camps and junior military / naval academies for short cruises for patriotic education and public relations missions. However, due to the age of these units, they are increasingly being used in its secondary missions in recent years and according to domestic Chinese media sources, even in this limited capacity of the secondary mission, the cruises are only consisted of short tours within the harbors.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Letters BO (Russian "БО") signify "большой охотник", literally "large [submarine] chaser". Since 27.12.1956 all Navy's ships accepted initial letters MPK, Russian "МПК", "малый противолодочный корабль" — small anti-submarine ship. The numbers were remained. Border Guards's ones possessed their own number system and initial letters PSKR, Russian "ПСКР", "пограничный сторожевой корабль", literally "border patrol ship".
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Type 6604 & 04 Subchasers". Retrieved 2009.

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