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Admiral Essen frigate to join Russian Mediterranean grouping - source

"The Admiral Essen frigate has joined the Mediterranean grouping; as planned, it departed (Sevastopol - TASS) today (Sunday)," the source said

SEVASTOPOL, July 9. /TASS/. The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s Project 11356 frigate Admiral Essen departed Crimea’s Sevastopol on Sunday to join the Russian grouping in the Mediterranean Sea, a source at Crimea’s defense authorities told TASS on Sunday.

"The Admiral Essen frigate has joined the Mediterranean grouping; as planned, it departed (Sevastopol - TASS) today (Sunday)," the source said. "Based on the experience, fulfilment of the tasks will last for a few months."

On July 5, the frigate returned to Sevastopol after it operated in the Mediterranean Sea off Syria.

The Defense Ministry said in late June that the frigates Admiral Essen and Admiral Grigorovich and the submarine Krasnodar had destroyed big armament depots of the Islamic State terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia) in Syria, using Kalibr (SS-N-27 Sizzler) cruise missiles.

The Admiral Essen is the first serial-produced Project 11356 frigate and the second ship in the family. It was delivered to the Black Sea Feet in June 2016.

The Project 11356 frigates are designed to conduct strikes against enemy`s surface and underwater combatants in blue and green waters and to repel air attacks both separately and within a naval task force. The frigates are armed with a 100 mm naval gun, surface-to-air and attack missile weapons and torpedoes. They can store a Ka-27-type helicopter or its modifications.

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