One gets the impression that the Soviet Navy unwittingly followed the rule "the smaller the ship, the more useful it is."
This was exactly what the patrol ship of Project 1135, codenamed "Petrel", was. Modest patrol boats with a displacement of only 3,000 tons more than once adequately defended the interests of the USSR at sea. This is perhaps our only class of warships that took part in a direct confrontation with the US Navy in a close combat situation.
"Petrel" were created to solve a wide range of tasks to provide anti-submarine and air defense of ship formations in open sea areas and in the littoral zone, escorting convoys in areas of local armed conflicts and protection of territorial waters. Strikingly different from their predecessors not only in their elegant appearance, but also in weapons systems and means of detecting enemy submarines, advanced energy and a high level of automation, these ships brought the country's long-range anti-submarine defense to a qualitatively new level. The successful design provided them with a long active service in all maritime and ocean theaters, their capabilities have not been exhausted to this day
The undoubted achievement of the design team of N. P. Sobolev was the deployment of solid weapons on such a small ship: 4 launchers of the Rastrub-B anti-submarine complex (originally - Blizzard), 2 Osa-M air defense systems, two 76 mm artillery mounts AK-726, RBU-6000, torpedoes …
In an impartial comparison, the Petrel is clearly inferior to the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates (the absence of a helicopter, a short cruising range, and weak air defense affect). But the patrol ships of the project 1135 had their advantage - these were the ships that our fleet needed at that time: simple, cheap and efficient.
For the first time, the "Petrel" met face to face with the "probable enemy" on October 28, 1978, when the RCS "Zealous" participated in the operation to rescue 10 American pilots from the reconnaissance aircraft "Alfa-Foxtrot 586" (P-3C Orion), which sank off the coast Kamchatka.
The brightest moment from the combat service of "Petrel" was the bulk of the TFR "Selfless" on the US Navy cruiser "Yorktown" on February 12, 1988, when the American group was forced out of the Soviet territorial waters off the coast of Crimea. The ship was commanded by the captain of the 2nd rank Vladimir Ivanovich Bogdashin.
The decisive actions of the TFR commander were unexpected for the American sailors. On the Yorktown, an emergency alarm went off, and the personnel rushed down from the decks and platforms. The blow fell in the area of the helipad, - a high sharp stem with a forecastle of the TFR, figuratively speaking, climbed onto the cruising helicopter deck and with a roll of 15-20 degrees on the left side began to destroy with its mass, as well as an anchor suspended from the hawse, everything that came across to him, Gradually sliding towards the cruising stern: he tore the superstructure side plating, cut down all the helipad rails, broke the command boat, then slid down to the deck of the poop (at the stern) and also demolished all the rails with struts. Then I hooked on the Harpoon anti-ship missile launcher - it seemed that a little more and the launcher would be pulled from its attachment to the deck. But at that moment, catching on something, the anchor broke off from the anchor-chain and, like a ball (3.5 tons in weight!), Having flown over the aft deck of the cruiser from the left side, fell into the water already behind its starboard side, miraculously not having hooked any of the sailors on the deck of the cruiser's emergency party. Of the four containers of the Harpoon anti-ship missile launcher, two were broken in half along with the missiles.
A day later, the American group consisting of the cruiser URO "Yorktown" and the destroyer "Caron" left the inhospitable for her Black Sea.
Another resonant incident took place at the Sentinel TFR - an uprising led by the ship's political officer, captain 3rd rank Valery Sablin. On the night of November 8-9, 1975, Sablin locked the ship's commander Potulny in the acoustic compartment and seized control of the Storozhev. Having received the support of some officers and warrant officers, Sablin announced his intentions to the team: in protest against the "departure of the party from Lenin's positions in building socialism", send a ship to Leningrad and speak on Central TV with an appeal to Brezhnev. Captain Sablin's odyssey ended tragically: the ship was intercepted by the forces of the Baltic Fleet. The Sentor's ICR crew was disbanded, and Sablin himself was accused of treason and on August 3, 1976, was shot.
TFR "Vigilant" in the summer of 1972, being in the war zone while carrying out combat service in the Mediterranean Sea, performed the task of providing assistance to the armed forces of Egypt and Syria.
"Petrel" became the most numerous series of warships of the USSR Navy - a total of 32 ships were built in 3 main modifications. During their combat service, Project 1135 patrol ships visited the DPRK, Yemen, Ethiopia. Tunisia, Spain, Seychelles, India. TFR "Bouncy" visited Luanda (Angola) and Lagos (Nigeria), and TFR "Ferocious" reached Havana.
Corvettes have always been a strong class of the Russian Navy. On the basis of our projects, patrol ships of the Talvar type (modification of the Petrel for the Indian Navy) and Gepard 3.9 (modification of the SKR pr. 11660 for the Vietnamese Navy) are being built for export. The newest domestic corvettes of the "Guarding" type (project 20380) are superior to all foreign analogues. Project 20380 has been rebalanced in terms of firepower and is more than versatile, distinguished by its compactness, stealth and a high level of automation of ship systems.
