MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. The Project 12700 (Alexandrite-class) mine countermeasures ship Anatoly Shlemov currently under construction at the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard in Russia’s northwest will enter service with the Pacific Fleet next year, Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov said on Friday.
"The next Project 12700 serial-produced mine countermeasures ship Anatoly Shlemov will enter service with the Pacific Fleet’s minesweeping forces in 2022 after planned outfitting work and all the stages of trials," the Russian Defense Ministry quoted the Navy chief as saying in a statement.
The minesweeper will be floated out at 12:00 p.m. on November 26, the admiral specified.
Next year, the serial construction of Project 12700 mine countermeasures ships will be continued at the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard for the Russian Navy’s minesweeping forces, he stressed.
"These ships have proven their efficiency in practice by a whole number of their characteristics. The unique hull of these ships and the corresponding armaments enable them to worthily accomplish assigned missions," the admiral said.
The Shipyard’s specialists have completed the work for building the minesweeper’s hull and some of its superstructure and outfitting it with systems and mechanisms. Further work will proceed outside the Shipyard’s workshop. The Shipyard’s personnel will complete work on the vessel’s superstructure, assemble the tower-mast system, antenna equipment and general ship mechanisms.
Project 12700 minesweeper
The minesweeper Anatoly Shlemov was laid down in July 2019. The vessel is the Project 12700 seventh ship under construction at the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard on order from the Russian Navy. The warship has been named after Vice-Admiral Anatoly Shlemov who served in the Navy’s Main Shipbuilding Department and subsequently worked as the director of the United Shipbuilding Corporation’s Defense Procurement Department.
Project 12700 has been engineered by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) and represents a new generation of mine countermeasure ships. The warships of this Project feature the world’s largest unique hull made of monolithic fiberglass. The unique hull enhances the warship’s strength and ensures a far better anti-mine resistance.
Russia’s Project 12700 Alexandrite-class coastal-type minesweepers are designated to fight sea mines, which the new ships can encounter in the sea and on the seabed without entering the danger zone. The minesweepers can employ various sweeps, as well as remotely controlled and autonomous underwater drones.
The minesweeper features a corrosion-resistant hull and has an unlimited service life.