The Russian Navy Baltic Fleet’s Stereguschy-class corvette Stoiky and tanker Kola made a planned visit at the Omani port of Salalah in their long-distance deployment, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported on Friday.
“During the second business call since the start of the deployment at the Omani port that will last through March 14, the Russian combat ship and the tanker will replenish fresh water and food supplies,” the press office said, adding that the naval ships would continue accomplishing assigned missions after wrapping up their business call.
According to the Russian TASS agency, the data reported by the Stoiky and the Kola, the ships’ equipment and armament are operating in the normal mode. The sailors have carried out planned maintenance work on all the ships’ systems.
On December 16, 2020, the Baltic Fleet’s naval group comprising the Stereguschy-class corvette Stoiky, the medium sea tanker Kola and the sea tug Yakov Grebelsky deployed to the sea from the home-base of Baltiysk for accomplishing planned long-distance deployment tasks. On February 15 and 16, the Stoiky and the Kola participated in the joint Russian-Iranian naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman and the northwestern Indian Ocean.
Tthe Stereguschy-class corvette Stoiky and the tanker Kola, which has marine corps anti-terror squads on their board, escorted two foreign-flagged civilian vessels through the Gulf of Aden the Arabian Sea to protect them against potential pirate attacks.
The Stereguschy-class corvette Stoiky and the tanker Kola earlier successfully fulfilled the task of escorting the Russia-flagged cargo ship Yeseniya from the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea’s designated point through the Gulf of Aden along a route of over 1,000 nautical miles on their anti-piracy mission.
Stereguschy-class corvette:
Designed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau, the Steregushchiy class (Project 20380), is one of the newest class of corvettes being built for the Russian Navy.
Steregushchy Class can be deployed in coastal patrol, escort and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations. The vessels can engage surface ships, submarines, aircraft and shore-based targets.
Steregushchy Class has an overall length of 105m, width of 13m and draft of 3.7m. Full load displacement of the ship is 2,100t. The vessel can sail at a maximum speed of 27kt. It can complement 100 personnel, including helicopter maintenance crew.
The Steregushchy Class is armed with a combination of missile systems, including Kh-35 missiles and 3M-54 Klub missiles. Two Kashtan anti-aircraft systems on-board provide close-in air defence against anti-ship missiles, aircraft and small surface targets. Beginning from Soobrazitelny, the new ships in class are being armed with the REDUT-K SAM system, in place of Kashtan system.
The main gun fitted forward is an Arsenal A-190 100mm naval gun. Two 30mm six-barrelled AK-630M automatic gun mounts are also installed on the vessel.
