Yours among strangers. The history of one ship
The idea to make a border patrol ship from a good project 1135 frigate was controversial, an overly powerful machine was obtained for the border guards, and too underarmed for the Navy in case of war. Judge for yourself:
Project 11351 "Nereus":
“In addition to the Osa-MA2 air defense system, they are armed with a rapid-fire 100-mm AK-100 gun mount, two 30-mm AK-630 anti-aircraft guns, two four-tube 533-mm torpedo tubes for firing 53-65K and SET-65 torpedoes, as well as two 12-barrel rocket launchers RBU-6000. In addition, the ships have equipment for setting minefields.
A total of 12 ships were planned, the lead ship entered service in 1982, and the seventh in 1990. Two in the Russian Federation are still serving, but the eighth and ninth, laid down on the territory of Ukraine, are frozen. With the ninth, which is in a low degree of readiness, they quickly decided - it was simply dismantled, but the eighth ...
In general, in 1991, when the newborn Ukraine was released from Napoleonic plans to build six submarines, complete the construction of the cruiser "Ukraine" and build a series of frigates, Kyiv thought about fleet. In the sense of the need for a fleet and its concept. Negotiations with the Russian Federation dragged on, it was necessary to focus on what is on the stocks. As a result, the ship, which at the laying was named "Kirov", turned into "Hetman Sahaidachny" and became the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy, being completed in 1993.
He was accompanied by the Slavutich control ship and two project 1124 MPKs, also slowly completed by Ukrainian factories. I must say, they took care of the ship, he and, perhaps, the Konstantin Olshansky large landing ship most often went to sea, showed the flag and personified the full power of the Ukrainian Navy.
Kirov-Sagaydachny made his first campaign in 1994 - to France. The following year it was shown at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi, on the way back it went to La Spezia and Varna. Regular service of the only ocean-going ship of a third-rate maritime country. The next year they repeated it, making a trip to the USA (Norfolk), Britain and Portugal. And again, a clean display of the flag, like any small maritime country.
It would be so good for Sagaidachny to go to different ports from time to time, showing the flag, but five years of active operation required repairs, which in those financial conditions was unprofitable for a poor country, and until 1999 the PSKR frigate stayed at the base. And after ocean activity subsided sharply - in 1999, the ship ran to Haifa. After that, he did not go further than the Black Sea until 2008, when, as part of Yushchenko's policy of rapprochement with NATO, he took part in exercises in the Mediterranean Sea.
By that time, it was already an elderly ship, requiring normal full-fledged repairs and modernization with re-equipment. There was no need to fight for fishing in the Pacific Ocean, for which it was conceived, and for the flagship, albeit tiny, but still the fleet was critical of the lack of a strike complex, which depreciated the ship itself. Nevertheless, under Yanukovych, it is being put in order, undergoing repairs in 2012 and preparing to fight Somali pirates.
Here it is necessary to make a lyrical digression - Yanukovych, who, as soon as they were not called these years, really began to create contract units, really began work on the construction of new frigates, and really tried to turn the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Navy into something combat-ready. In fact, ironically, it was Yanukovych's army that fought against the Donbass. And on September 24, 2013, the ship went on its last big trip to fight Somali pirates.
The operation ended on March 5, 2014, at the height of the Crimean spring, and part of the crew sincerely wanted to go to Sevastopol, but those who decided to remain in the Navy took over, and the ship went to Odessa, where it stood for three years, after which, in view of the extremely dead The state was sent for repairs, with plans to extend the service life until 2031. Repairs in the former center of world shipbuilding did not go on, and in 2021 the contract was re-signed, allocating 437 million hryvnias (about 1,1 billion rubles). Attempts to save the "Sagaydachny" are understandable - the only large ship in Ukraine and the only thing that could be brought further than the Eastern Mediterranean.
The repair was not weak, from the gas turbine plant to equipment and weapons, but it didn’t work out, and I think it couldn’t, not the capacities and the wrong means. But be that as it may, yesterday the ship was flooded, according to the statements of the Ukrainian side - in order to prevent the landing, from the point of view of logic - unless the enemy got it. Although Russia does not need it, just like the Crimean prisoners of 14 and other property of the Ukrainian Navy, which are outdated for a long time and tightly.
Technically, there are no problems to raise it, but why? Whatever happens next in this unfortunate land, a 30-year-old ship is not worth the cost of restoration. "Sagaydachny" died, along with him died the maritime ambitions of Ukraine. They died as they lived, stupidly and senselessly.
And the ship is a pity, born to patrol the Great Ocean, he lived his life as either a yacht or a flag demonstrator. And he died only because someone does not care about the future of his land.
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