MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. The Project 12700 latest minesweeper Vladimir Yemelyanov has entered state trials in the Baltic Sea, Russian Navy Spokesman Igor Dygalo said on Monday.

"Under the program of trials, the ship’s crew and the shipyard’s delivery team will check the operation of all the systems and mechanisms and test the radio-technical armament and the onboard sonar system," the spokesman informed.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported in October that the minesweeper Vladimir Yemelyanov had arrived in Baltiysk for the final stage of its trials. The minesweeper was expected to fulfil the program of state trials in November. The shipbuilders are set to deliver the warship to the Navy by late 2019.

The minesweeper Vladimir Yemelyanov built at the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard in St. Petersburg is the Project 12700 third warship. In 2016, the Shipyard delivered the Project’s lead ship Alexander Obukhov to the Navy and in January 2019 the St. Andrew’s Russian naval flag was hoisted aboard the minesweeper Ivan Antonov.

Project 12700 Alexandrit-class coastal-type minesweepers are referred to the new generation of minesweeping forces and are designated to fight sea mines, which they can encounter in the sea and at the seabed without entering the dangerous zone. The minesweepers can employ various sweeps, as well as remotely controlled and autonomous underwater drones. The minesweepers of this Project displace 890 tonnes, are 62 meters long and ten meters wide and have a crew of 44 men.

Project 12700 mine countermeasures vessels (minesweepers) have their hull made of glass-fiber reinforced plastic. As its advantage, this solution provides for the ship’s higher strength compared to the steel hull. The hull made of the monolith glass-fiber reinforced plastic has a longer service life (up to 30 years) than the hull made of low-magnetic steel while its weight is considerably smaller.