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Russia's advanced armament support ship to start trials in September

The ice-reinforced vessel was designed for loading, unloading and transporting weapons

ARKHANGELSK, September1. /TASS/. The advanced armament support ship Academician Kovalyov built by the Zvyozdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk in northwest Russia will start seagoing trials by late September, a shipyard spokesperson told TASS on Tuesday.

"The Academician Kovalyov is expected to take to the sea for the first time approximately in the third ten-day period of September for sea trials", the spokesperson said.

As was reported earlier by the shipyard, the ship is to be delivered to the Russian Navy before the year-end.

The Academician Kovalyov was launched in the summer of 2014 to be completed afloat. The ice-reinforced vessel was designed for loading, unloading and transporting weapons. It is 107.6 m long, with a beam of 17.8 m, a total displacement of 6,300 tons and a crew of 60. The Russian Defense Ministry awarded the contract for the ship's construction in September 2011.

The Project 20180TV ship was designed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau. The Academician Kovalyov is a derivative of the Zvyozdochka seagoing rescue towboat built by the Severodvinsk shipyard and delivered to the Navy in 2010.

In July, the Severodvinsk shipyard laid down the armament support ship Academician Makeyev, the fourth special vessel in the project's series designated for the Russian Navy. The ship was named after Viktor Makeyev, a distinguished Russian scientist and engineer, a general designer of submarine-based ballistic missiles (1924-85).