Next year, the construction of the large landing ship of the Ivan Gren project, laid down at the Yantar shipyard in 2004, will be completed. This ship is the first of the 11711 series, which will undergo sea trials at the end of the summer of 2012 and will become part of the Russian fleet in 2013. As far as is known, within the framework of the state armament program of Russia until 2020, it is planned to put into operation about six more ships of the 11711 series.
Russia already has a contract for the construction of the French universal ships of the Mistral project. The first ship of this project will be built by the French company STX at the Saint-Nazaire shipyards within three years, and our specialists will carry out about 20% of all work there, the second will be built within four years and two more helicopter carriers will be laid down and built under license already in Russia by the USC corporation … All project technologies were transferred to Russian specialists, including the Zenit-9 BIUS project.
The fleet needs 18 more ships of this class, this is the number needed to accommodate the amphibious assault (marines).
The history of the Project 11711 BDK begins with the famous Soviet BDK Tapir, the Ivan Gren ship (serial number 01301) is an improved ship of the 1171 Tapir series.
Project 11711 was created by the Nevsky Design Bureau, the hull of the Tapir was taken as a basis, the design changes affected the interior and superstructure of the ship. Modern technologies and designs were successfully used, which gave a positive result in the field of reducing the visibility and increasing the stealth of the ship in all directions of the ship's protection.
The ship acquired a new method for the large landing ships built in the Soviet Union, a method of non-contact disembarkation of military equipment, marines and cargo. It is proposed to use standard pontoons, which are used by Ground units to overcome water obstacles.
Let's take a closer look at the landing ships "Ivan Gren" and "Mistral":
Large landing craft "Ivan Gren" on the stocks:
Main characteristics:
- displacement -4950 tons;
- draft - 3, 6 meters;
- width - 16.5 meters;
- length - 120 meters;
- speed - 18 knots;
- duration of autonomous sailing - 30 days;
- the ship's crew - 100 people;
- one diesel 10D49 with a capacity of 4000 hp;
Armament:
- one universal shipborne gun 76 mm AK-176M;
- two artillery mounts AK-630M;
- two launchers A-215, multiple launch rocket system "Grad";
- one ship-borne transport-combat helicopter Ka-29.
Universal recreation center "Mistral":
Main characteristics:
- displacement -16500 tons;
- draft -6, 3 meters;
- width - 32 meters;
- length - 199 meters;
- speed - 19 knots;
- duration of autonomous sailing - 30 days;
- the crew of the ship - 160 people;
- three diesel generators 16V32 with a capacity of 6, 2 MW;
- one diesel generator "Vyartsilya" with a capacity of 3.3MW;
Armament:
- two twin launchers of the Simbad anti-aircraft missile system;
- two 30-mm artillery mounts "Breda-Mauser";
- four 12.7 mm Browning machine guns;
- 16 landing heavy helicopters or 32 light helicopters;
- 2 radars DRBN-38A.
As you can see, the large landing craft "Ivan Gren" really turned out to be a junior ship in comparison with the French "Mistral", however, the cost of the ships is different:
- the cost of one ship of the Ivan Gren series is 5 billion rubles;
- the cost of one ship of the Mistral series is 1 billion euros.
At the end of 2010, the Yantar shipyard received a government order for the construction of another ship of the Ivan Gren series.
Do not forget that the old Project 775 BDKs were assembled in Poland, so the construction of the ships of the Ivan Gren project is being carried out practically from scratch, - according to the officials of the military department. Until the Mistral and Ivan Gren entered the Russian Navy, the Navy will continue to use the old amphibious assault ships built in 1960-1980, with a total of 18 ships.
The fact that ships of this class are created and purchased very slowly is explained by the fact that they are not the first necessity for the Russian Navy. We now need warships and submarines more than amphibious ships, priorities are placed on corvettes, destroyers and frigates, the Ministry of Defense notes. Russia is not going to participate in amphibious operations and NATO operations using amphibious assault ships - this is not in its interests.
Large universal Mistrals will take on missions in the open seas and ocean spaces, and large landing ships of the Ivan Gren project will take on missions in the closed inland (Baltic and Black) seas.
