River Gunboats
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71 tons full load; L: 27.4m/89ft 10¾in; B: 4.32m/14ft 2in; D: 0.85m/2ft 9½in.
Crew:
14.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × 1,200bhp M-50F diesel engines/24 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 76.2mm D-56T; 1 × twin 25mm AA or 1 × twin 14.5mm AA HMG; 1 × seventeen-barrelled 140mm rocket launcher; 1 × 7.62mm MG; 4 × 30mm grenade launchers; up to 10 mines/Turret: 25mm front, 20mm sides, 13mm rear, 8mm roof; Hull and superstructure bulletproof plating.
Fate:
Many still remain in service.
Project 205P Tarantul in patrol-boat format, without missile launchers or torpedo tubes. (US Navy photo)
The Tarantul class were derived from the ‘Osa’ class missile boats.
Project 205 Tarantul (NATO Designation ‘Stenka’)
Thirty-three units were exported.
Launched:
1967–89 105 units by Primorskiy (later Almaz) Shipyard, Leningrad; 1967–76 25 units by Vladivostok SY; 1984–7 7 units Variant Project 02059 by Almaz.
Dimensions:
Displ: 211 tons; 245 tons full load; L: 39.98m/131ft 2in; B: 7.91m/25ft 11½in; D: 1.96m/6ft 5in.
Crew:
31.
Power/Speed:
Triple screws; 3 × 4,000bhp M-503G OR 3 × 5,000bhp MR-104 diesel engines/34 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × twin 30mm; AK-312 + 2 × 12.7mm HMG; 5 × 400mm AS torpedo tubes on some units (not on Project 02059); 12 depth charges.
Fate:
In service.
Project 1400 Grif (NATO Designation ‘Zhuk’)
No less than 202 were exported, or passed to former members of the USSR.
Launched:
1968–92 by Primorsky (later Almaz) SY, Leningrad, Morye SY, Feodosia, & Batumi SY.
Dimensions:
Displ: 33.6–36.5 tons, full load 36.7– 0 tons depending on armament; L: 23.8m/78ft; B: 5.15m/16ft 10¾in; D: 1m/3ft 3in.
Crew:
7–9.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × 1,000bhp diesel engines/30 knots Project 1400A; 29 knots Project 1400M & ME.
Guns/Armour:
1 × twin 14.5mm HMG or 1 × twin 12.7mm HMG or 2 × twin 14.5mm HMG or 2 × twin 12.7mm HMG.
Fate:
Several still in service.
Ex-Estonian Grif class P 401 on display in Lennusadam Port. She is of the early Project 1400A type. (Photo courtesy of VargaA)
The basic, initial Project 1400A, with one twin MG mount forward.
Two variants of the Project 1400ME, on the left with two twin MG turrets, and on the right, with two 14.5mm AA HMG in the rear mount. Other local variants were later rearmed with a variety of different weapons, including 30mm AA cannon.
Project 1208 Slepen
Ten of these large Project 1208 river monitors were built from 1974 to 1982, before the Soviet Army decided instead to bring down firepower using hovercraft to transport self-propelled artillery and missile launchers. In 1994 the gunboats were passed to the Border Guards, and in 1995 they received names in place of their former ‘MAK’ designations, several reviving traditional gunboat and Amur monitor names such as Groza, Smerch, Tayfun, Khabarovsk, Shtorm, Vikhr and Shkval. By 2003 all ten had been withdrawn.
As well as her heavy gun armament and missile launchers, in place of one of her CIWS mountings the Project 12081 version carries an Akvilon laser weapon, developed by the USSR back in the 1960s. Akvilon is used to disable electro-optical ranging devices and blind an enemy vessel or shore installation.
Project 1208 river monitor.
Closeup of the AK-630 six-barrelled 30mm rotary cannon CIWS. This water-cooled mount out-performs both the American Phalanx and the Dutch Goalkeeper CIWS systems, with a rate of fire of up to 5,000rpm. (US Navy photo)
Project 12081 Vyuga, on the Russo-Chinese frontier.
The single Project 12081 monitor, Vyuga, still patrols the Chinese frontier on the Amur River.
Launched:
1974–82 10 units of Project 1208; 1983 1 unit of Project 12081, by Khabarovsk SY.
Dimensions:
Displ: 390 tons, 450 tons full load; L: 55.1m/180ft 9in; B: 9.14m/30ft; D: 1.44m/4ft 8½in.
Crew:
32.
Power/Speed:
Triple screws; 3 × 3,800bhp M-504B diesel engines/23 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 100mm; 2 × 30mm AK-630 rotary cannon CIWS (1 in Vyuga); 2 × twin 12.7mm HMG; 1 × twin 140mm rocket launchers; 2 × 30mm grenade launchers; 2 × MG; 1 × quad Strela SAM launcher. Vyuga + 1 × Akvilon laser.
Fate:
All of Project 1208 scrapped 2003; Vyuga of Project 12081 in service.
Project 1248 Moskit. (Photo from Website: www.worldnavalships.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3009&d=1204197606)
Project 1248 Moskit profile.
Project 1248 Moskit (NATO Designation ‘Vosh’)
A class of twenty-three monitors for the Amur River. Underneath their somewhat cluttered topside appearance, they are large river monitors of a similar type to the ‘Shmel’ class, but three times as large. Half the displacement of the unpopular Project 1208s, when the latter were withdrawn in 2003, eighteen of the Moskit class were transferred to the Border Guards, some taking on the traditional names of their predecessors, such as Vikhr, Shtorm, Groza, Shkval, Khabarovsk, Tayfun, Smerch and Uragan.
Launched:
1979–91 by Sretensk SY, Kokuy.
Dimensions:
Displ: 201.7 tons, 213.7 tons full load; L: 38.91m/127ft 8in; B: 6.1m/20ft; D: 1.22m/4ft.
Crew:
21.
Power/Speed:
Triple screws; 3 × 1,100bhp M-401B diesel engines/17.5 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 100mm; 1 × 30mm AK-630 rotary cannon CIWS; 1 × twin 12.7mm HMG; 1 × 7.62mm MG; 1 × twin 140mm rocket launcher; 1 × 30mm grenade launcher/Bulletproof plating.
Fate:
5 stricken in 2003, the remaining 18 in service.
Project 10410 Svetlyak Class
Forty-four of these large, stylish patrol gunboats have been built and are under construction in three shipyards. Six have been exported.
Nevel’sk, a typical Project 10410 patrol boat. (US Navy photo)
Project 10410 profile.
Launched:
44 units built since 1998 by Yaroslavl, Vladivostock SY (later Vostochnaya verf) and Almaz.
Dimensions:
Displ: 333 tons, 365–375 tons full load; L: 49.52m/162ft 5½in; B: 9.2m/30ft 2in; D: 2.63m/8ft 7½in.
Crew:
28.
Power/Speed:
Triple screws; 3 × 5,400bhp M-520 diesel engines/30–32 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 76.2mm + 1 × 30mm water-cooled AK-630 rotary cannon CIWS or (on 6 units) 2 × 30mm water-cooled AK-630 CIWS or (on 5 units) 2 × 30mm air-cooled AK-306 rotary cannon CIWS; 2 × 14.5mm HMG; 2 × seven-barrelled 55mm grenade launchers; 2 × 400mm AS torpedo tubes (later removed from all but PSKR-901); 12 depth charges; 1 × twin SAM missile launcher; 2 × triple AT missile launchers.
Fate:
1998 PSKR-901 sunk in storm at Korsakov; PSKR-917 scrapped 2017; remainder In service.
Project 14310 Mirazh (NATO Designation ‘Mirage’)
Aluminium alloy construction. All three naval gunboats currently serve on the Caspian. The 30mm rotary cannon CIWS is the air-cooled version, firing at up to 1,000 rpm. Four units are being built for export.
The latest ‘Mirage’ model for the Border Patrol (Coast Guard). Note the modern bridge windows compared with the drawing of the Navy version. (Photo courtesy of builders at www.vympelrybinsk.ru/en/mirazh-14310.html)
Profile of an early ‘Mirage’ class.
Launched:
3 units built 2001–7 by Vympel SY, Rybinsk. Additional units also built for the Border Guard.
Dimensions:
Displ: 110.2 tons, 120.3 tons full load; L: 35.35m/116ft; B:
6.79m/22ft 3in; D: 1.74m/5ft 8½in.
Crew:
12.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × 5,400bhp M-520BE diesel engines/50 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 30mm AK-306 air-cooled rotary cannon CIWS; 2 × 14.5mm HMG; 2 × triple Shturm AT missile launchers; 8 × SAM missile launchers.
Fate:
In service.
Project 21630 Buyan
Rated as small gunboats, and capable of riverine operations.
Launched:
Astrakhan 7 October 2005, Makhachkala 27 April 2012, by Almaz SY, St Petersburg; Kaspiysk 6 May 2011, by Volgodonsk SY.
Dimensions:
Displ: 520 tons full load; L: 61.8m/202ft 9in; B: 10.3m/33ft 9½in; D: 2 – 3m/6ft 6in – 9ft 10in.
Crew:
48.
Power/Speed:
Twin waterjets; 4 × 4,000bhp M507D diesel engines in CODAD configuration/26 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 100mm A-190-01; 1 × forty-barrelled 122mm Grad-M rocket launcher; 2 × 30mm AK-306 air-cooled rotary cannon CIWS or 1 × 30mm AK-630M water-cooled rotary cannon CIWS; 2 × 14.5mm HMG; 1 × six-missile Gibka SAM launcher or 8 × Igla SAM manpads.
Fate:
In service.
Astrakhan.
Buyan class profile.
Project 21632 Tornado Buyan
Serpukhov passing the Bosporus on 2 April 2017, one of the latest variants of the Buyan class, displacing 560 tons full load, and with a different armament fit. In place of the Grad unguided rocket launcher, units may be armed with either two eight-missile Uran-E or two four-missile Yakhont launchers. The Tornado Buyan class can also operate a KA-226 helicopter. (Photo courtesy of Devrim Yaylali, on the Bosporus Naval News site at: https://turkishnavy.net/)
Project 03160 Raptor
It seems that any similarity with the Swedish CB90 is purely coincidental. The two designs share a common operational envelope, and therefore would tend to have similar characteristics. Also, several other countries are taking up the Swedish concept of the bow door for landing marines etc. The fact that the craft are camouflaged as standard does suggest that they are intended for a riverine and estuary role, to be concealed against the riverbank vegetation.
Raptor Variant 1. (Photo from the builders on pellaship.ru)
Raptor Variant 1. (Drawing from the builders on pellaship.ru)
The remote-controlled 14.5mm HMG mounting. (Photo by A B Karlenko on Website: bastion-karpenko.ru)
Stern view of Raptor showing the armament layout. Note the access stairs moulded into the glassfibre for lightness. (Photo by A B Karlenko on Website: bastion-karpenko.ru)
Launched:
8 units built 2013–15 by Pella SY, St Petersburg.
Dimensions:
Displ: 23 tons; L: 16.9m/55ft 5½in; B: 4.1m/13ft 5½; D: 0.90m/2ft 11½in.
Crew:
2 + up to 20 passengers, Marines etc.
Power/Speed:
Twin Rolls-Royce KaMeWa 36A3 HS waterjets; 2 × 1,150bhp Caterpillar C18 diesel engines/48 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 14.5mm HMG; 2 × 7.62mm 3P41 Pecheneg MG/39mm-thick armoured glass windows; Hull armour panels for Level 5 and Level 5A protection.
Fate:
In service.
SERBIA
Launched on 5 August 1915, the small armoured gunboat Jadar became the first ship of the Serbian River Flotilla. She was built in Čukarica, and used for minelaying on the River Sava.
On the Danube, the Serbs armed a tugboat, the Stig, which was scuttled during the Bulgarian invasion of Serbia.
For the monitors and gunboats in service following the end of the Great War see YUGOSLAVIA.
The Serbian River Flotilla was reconstituted following the breakup of Yugoslavia.
RP 111 was originally built for the US Navy’s Rhine River Patrol to the design of the PR33 class. She was transferred to Yugoslavia in the late 1950s during the Tito era, and was retained by Serbia. (Photo courtesy of the Serbian River Flotilla)
RPČ-211 Class
Of this class of Yugoslav patrol boat RPČ-213, 214 and 216 were retained by Serbia at the time of writing, armed with two single M71 20mm cannon.
Launched:
1956 by Hitzler, Regensburg.
Dimensions:
Displ: 28 tons; L: 24.05m/78ft 11in; B: 4.04m/13ft 3in; D: 1.3m/4ft 3in.
Crew:
7.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × MWM diesel engines, total 440bhp/27 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 20mm Model 71 cannon.
Fate:
In service 2017.
Neštin Class
With the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, the Serbian River Flotilla inherited the last of the Yugoslav Navy river patrol boats, and have since added armed landing craft for assault use by the Army. As the principal threat in the Danube for many decades has been the mine, the Neštin class were designated as river minesweepers. They have a secondary role as troop transports, carrying up to eighty men at a time, and they can carry and place various types of mine. They are slow, but heavily armed for their size: the first five boats had a quadruple 20mm M75 mounting forward and two single 20mm M71 mountings aft, and the latest of the class, MLR-341 Novi Sad, has a quad mounting forward and aft. The 20mm Model 55 guns, with a cyclic rate of 650 rpm, are Yugoslav versions of the 1930s Hispano HS 804 anti-aircraft gun, a close relation of the more widespread HS 404 aircraft cannon. Fed from a 60-round drum, each gun can fire up to 180 rounds in succession, but then must be left five to ten minutes to cool down. The powered M75 mounting has a sophisticated optical sight, and weighs almost 2 tons. Additional anti-aircraft protection is provided by a Strela-2 low altitude shoulder-fired missile launcher, with passive infrared homing.
The class had modest success in export sales, six being sold to Hungary and three to Iraq. Of the six vessels retained by Serbia, MLR-331 Neštin and MLR-334 Bosut were stricken, and MLR-333 Belegiš was sold to a tourist agency.
Neštin class No 336 Đerdap on the Danube. (Photo courtesy of the Serbian River Flotilla)
Neštin Class 341 Novi Sad bow view and profile. (Drawings: Photobucket)
Quad M75 20mm forward mounting firing.
Starboard aft single M73 20mm gun in action. (Photo courtesy of the Serbian River Flotilla)
Launched:
MLR-332 Motajica, MLR-335 Vučedol, MLR-336 Đerdap, 1976–80; MLR-341 Novi Sad 1996; by Brodotehnika shipyard, Belgrade.
Dimensions:
Displ: 61 tons; L: 26.94m/88ft 4½in; B: 7.15m/23ft 5½in; D: 1.08m/3ft 6½in.
Crew:
17 + up to 80 equipped troops.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × Torpedo B-539RM/2 diesel engines, total 324bhp/9.7 knots upstream of the Danube; 13 knots downstream.
Guns/Armour:
1 × quad M75 20mm gun mounting; 2 × single M71 20mm mountings; (MLR-341: 2 × quad M75 20mm mountings); Strela-2 AA missile launcher; 20 AIMM82 non-contact mines or 24 R-1 anchored mines.
Fate:
In service 2017.
TAILPIECE
On 11 December 2015 Sava was refloated and later towed to the Confluence anchorage, where she was to be put ashore for restoration. She is to form part of the Military Museum collection.
Sava, ex-Bodrog, being inspected in December 2015 by members of the Serbian River Flotilla, in preparation for her eventual refloating. The vessel alongside is RP 111. (Photo Serbian Ministry of Defence)
SOUTH AFRICA
The South African Navy maintains a Maritime Reaction Squadron (MRS) on the high seas. Also, in order to provide security coverage for inland trouble spots, the MRS has invested in a number of small riverine patrol craft, for rapid deployment by road transport to regions such as the African Great Lakes.
Namacurra Class Patrol Boats
Five of these craft have been transported overland and supplied to neighbouring Namibia, Malawi and Mozambiqu
e.
A Namacurra class patrol boat of the MRS. (Photo from Website: http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111580&page=22)
Launched:
1980–1 by Sandock-Austral, Durban.
Dimensions:
Displ: 4 tons; 5.2 tons full load; L: 9.5m/31ft 2in; B: 2.5m/8ft 2½in.
Crew:
4–5.
Power/Speed:
Twin outboard drives; 2 × 188bhp BMW petrol engines/32 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 0.50 cal HMG; 1 × 7.62mm SS77 MG.
Fate:
In service, but being replaced by 12m type.
Project Xena Riverine Patrol Boats
Navy spokesman and Xena project officer Captain Nick Marais has described how the use of aluminium for their construction simplified the task of repairing holes outside South Africa, by quickly patching with a plate, whereas repairing GRP took skill and time.
Launched:
2008 by Vee Craft Marine, Cape Town.
Dimensions:
Displ: 5.6 tons; L: 10.5m/32ft 9¾in; B: 2.6m/8ft 6in; D: 0.9m/2ft 11½in.
Crew:
4 + 6 MRS Commandos.
Power/Speed:
Twin waterjets; 2 × diesel engines/29+ knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 0.50 cal HMG; 2 × 7.62mm SS77 MG.
Fate:
In service, but being replaced by 12m type.
The prototype 10.5m Project Xena. (Photo from Website: http://www.armchair-general.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111580&page=22
Project Carol Riverine Patrol Boats