Construction of Russian Navy’s New Frigate Begins

The Yantar shipyard in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad has launched construction of a new Project 11356 frigate for the Russian navy, local media reported.
The official ceremony, attended by Deputy Commander of the Baltic Fleet, Rear Admiral Sergei Popov, was held Friday, according to Baltic Reporter online news portal.
The Admiral Butakov is the fourth in a series of six Project 11356, or Admiral Grigorovich-class, frigates for delivery to the Black Sea Fleet between 2014 and 2016 under a contract with the Defense Ministry.
The lead warship in the series, the Admiral Grigorovich, was laid down in December 2010, the second, the Admiral Essen, in July 2011 and the third, the Admiral Makarov, in February 2012.
The Project 11356 frigates, displacing 3,850 tons are designed for anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare on the high seas, and for anti-aircraft operations, both independently and as an escort ship.
The ships are armed with an eight-cell launcher for Kalibr and Klub (3M54E) anti-ship and surface-to-surface missiles, a 100-mm main gun, Kashtan gun/missile close-in air defense systems, Shtil vertical-launch air defense missile systems, two torpedo tubes, an anti-submarine rocket system and a Ka-28 or Ka-31 helicopter, according to globalsecurity.org and rusnavy.com.

Source: Russian Navy, July 16, 2013; Image: Yantar