On April 25, 2018, the launching ceremony of the next base minesweeper of Project 12700, cipher Alexandrite, took place. The minesweeper was designed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau for the Russian Navy and belongs to a new generation of mine defense ships (MMP). The ship is designed to search for and destroy sea mines in the waters of naval bases at a safe distance for the ship.
The lead minesweeper "Alexander Obukhov", which was launched on June 27, 2014 and entered service on December 9, 2016, fully confirmed all the tactical and technical characteristics laid down in the project. Vice-Admiral Viktor Bursuk, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy for Armaments, who was present at the ceremony of launching the third minesweeper of this type (the second serial) Ivan Antonov, told the journalists about this. The first serial ship "Georgy Kurbatov" was laid down on April 24, 2015, but in June 2016 it was damaged by fire, the ship is still under construction, it will be tentatively launched in 2019.
In total, 10 ships of Project 12700 were contracted for the needs of the Russian Navy, instead of the originally planned 8 ships, while the commissioning date for the last minesweeper of the series was shifted to 2027. According to Viktor Bursuk, minesweepers of the Alexandrite type will be present in all fleets. The lead ship "Alexander Obukhov" is currently serving in the Baltic Fleet, and the second ship, "Ivan Antonov", built and launched, will become part of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Tests of "Ivan Antonov" are scheduled to begin in the fall of 2018.
Basic minesweeper of project 12700, render by Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau
The fiberglass hull of the new ship, invisible to magnetic detonators of sea mines, a modern anti-mine system and high maneuverability make the Project 12700 minesweepers strategically important ships for the Russian fleet. Basic minesweepers of this project can be used both to clear safe corridors in minefields and to search for single drifting sea mines that interfere with navigation.
The minesweeper is designed to detect and destroy all types of mines; mine protection of bases, coastal sea areas; providing anti-mine protection of ships of the fleet in the transition by sea, their own exclusive economic zone and mineral deposits in the sea; setting up minefields; conducting mine reconnaissance. During periods of low probability of a mine threat, minesweepers of project 12700 can be used both to protect a given water area and for training purposes.
In the base minesweepers of Project 12700, the designers of the St. Petersburg enterprise TsMKB "Almaz" managed to combine a fairly large number of non-standard engineering solutions; much was used on ships of this class for the first time. For example, in addition to two adjustable pitch propellers, the minesweeper received two PU-100F bow thrusters and two VPK-90F / 70 retractable aft propellers. Due to this, the ship received maneuverability comparable to the maneuverability of a tug. For a coastal minesweeper, this is a rather valuable quality that allows the ship to be effectively used even in narrow straits, between shoals, on fairways. Two diesel engines with a capacity of 2500 hpeach provide the warship with a maximum speed of 16 knots. The cruising range at an economical speed is 1500 nautical miles, the cruising autonomy is 10 days.
Launching the minesweeper "Alexander Obukhov"
But the main feature of the ship is its unique design, namely the hull manufacturing technology. The ship's hull is made of monolithic fiberglass by vacuum infusion (for the first time in Russia). At the same time, when creating a minesweeper, a world technology record was set - for the first time in the world, a monolithic hull made of fiberglass with a length of almost 62 meters was made. The hull manufacturing technology was developed with the participation of the Central Research Institute of Structural Materials "Prometheus" and the Central Research Institute named after Academician Krylov.
The main advantages of a monolithic body are:
- increased strength compared to traditional steel body;
- increased service life;
- increased survivability characteristics;
- low weight.
Moreover, unlike low-magnetic steel, the lighter and stronger fiberglass body has a minimum level of physical fields. Proximity mine fuses simply do not work on it, which is very important for ships of this type. True, the technology for creating such a hull is very expensive, so the first ships of this project cost the Russian Defense Ministry a pretty penny, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
The side armament of the Project 12700 Alexandrite minesweepers is represented by one 30-mm AK-306 six-barreled artillery unit and one 14.5-mm caliber Marine pedestal machine gun (MPTU) (KPVT machine gun). It is also possible to install two 12.7 mm Kord machine guns on a pivot mount (6P59) instead of a 14.5 mm machine gun. Also on board the minesweeper there are 8 portable anti-aircraft missile systems.
Launching the minesweeper "Ivan Antonov"
The minesweeper "Ivan Antonov" is equipped with modern complexes for search and detection of mines, which are controlled by the automated system "Diez". In addition, the minesweeper has a sonar mine detection station "Livandia-M". The control system "Sharp" in real time receives, processes and displays on electronic maps the operational information that comes from the navigation systems, which greatly facilitates the work of the navigator. The minesweeper can also use various surface and underwater autonomous mine action vehicles.
In particular, three Inspector Mk 2 unmanned boats were purchased from ECA Group specially for the Project 12700 Alexandrite minesweepers in France, which are an anti-mine system controlled from the carrier ship. Each such 9-meter boat is equipped with an active HAS for mine detection on a retractable match in the bow (for searching for mines at a depth of 10 meters, including anchored ones) and a towed side-looking HAS TOWSCA (for searching for mines at depths from 10 to 100 meters, including objects on bottom), as well as various remotely controlled underwater vehicles for searching and destroying mines, in particular, two underwater mine vehicles Seascan Mk.2. An unmanned boat can effectively operate at a distance of up to 10 kilometers from the carrier ship. At the end of June 2017, within the framework of the international naval show, which took place in St. Petersburg, the commercial director of ECA Group, Dominique Malle, said that the concern expects in two years to establish licensed production of Inspector Mk.2 boats and Seascan Mk2 autonomous underwater vehicles in Russia. …
Naval expert Captain First Rank Mikhail Slavin in an interview with RIA Novosti said that the lion's share of mine action equipment for the first minesweepers of Project 12700 was purchased in France even before the imposition of sanctions. At the same time, the minesweepers were originally designed for the fourth generation of the Russian anti-mine system "Alexandrite - ISPUM", which, unfortunately, has not yet been brought to mind.
Minesweeper "Alexander Obukhov" and unmanned boat Inspector Mk 2
Pavel Zvonarev in the early 1980s, who served as a navigator on the base minesweeper of the Baltic Fleet, in an interview with RIA Novosti noted that minesweeping has always been considered a difficult task from the point of view of ensuring navigation. “To clear the safe corridor, usually 6-7 ships are used, which move in a dense ledge with deployed trawls. The speed of the minesweepers is constant - from 6 to 12 knots. The structure of the ships is maintained in such a way that no untracked zones remain behind them. Over time, this tactic has hardly changed. " According to Zvonarev, the navigators of the minesweepers provide the so-called "overlap" - the strips of water must be cleared from mines by about 30% of their width, the overlap effect is realized. In order to achieve meter accuracy during trawling, an independent radio navigation system with special beacons is quickly deployed, all maneuvers and turns are calculated, the coastline and various landmarks are tracked by the locator. The presence of modern navigation equipment on the ships of the project 12700 makes it possible to do this much more accurately and faster.
In addition to modern robotic systems and complexes, the new minesweepers were also equipped with traditional means: a contact trawl GKT-2 and an acoustic SHAT-U. The first of them consists of two long flexible steel leashes with passive cutters rigidly fixed to them, as well as spreading devices in the form of floats at the ends. If you observe this trawl from a height, then its outlines will resemble a dovetail. The scheme of action of such a trawl is quite simple. Having caught on the trawl, the minrep (a cable with an anchor that keeps the sea mine under water) begins to slide along it, after which it hits one of the cutters and breaks off. After that, a mine that has surfaced to the surface can be quickly eliminated with the help of artillery and machine-gun armament installed on the minesweeper. And with the appearance and spread of bottom mines, the so-called non-contact trawls were created, which, simulating physical fields, initiated the detonation of mines of this type.
Despite the absence of strike weapons on board, modern mine defense ships are of strategic importance for the fleet. Modern technologies of mining both from water and from the air (dropping mines from planes and helicopters) allow, in a short time and rather densely, to sow the sea area with various mines. No matter how powerful the fleet is, if it is locked in the places of its basing by enemy mines, its combat capabilities will be significantly limited. Only minesweepers are able to break through the mine blockade. Without minesweepers, it will not be possible to bring nuclear submarine missile carriers and cruisers on patrol, land amphibious assault forces, or organize effective coastal defense. In recent years, the command of the Russian Navy has seriously worried about the state of the mine-sweeping fleet and the issues of its replenishment with new ships. Until 2050, the Russian fleet's need for new minesweepers is estimated at at least 30-40 ships.
The performance characteristics of the Project 12700 Aleksandrite minesweeper:
Displacement - 890 tons.
Length - 61.6 m, width - 10.3 m.
Power plant - 2 diesel engines with a capacity of 2x2500 hp.
Speed - 16 knots.
Cruising range - 1500 miles.
Autonomy - 10 days.
Armament: 1 x AU AK-306 (30-mm), 1 x MTPU 14, 5-mm, 8 MANPADS.
Mine countermeasures: acoustic trawl SHAT-U, contact trawl GKT-2 or GOKT-1.
Crew - 44 people.
