SEVASTOPOL, December 15. /TASS/. The crew of the advanced Project 22160 patrol ship Sergey Kotov built for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet completed its transit from Novorossiysk to Sevastopol as part of shipbuilders’ sea trials, the Black Sea Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday.

"During the fourth purposeful deployment to the sea, under conditions of a real maritime transition over 200 nautical miles long, the crew tested the reliability and operation of the propulsion units and navigational equipment and vessel control and stability upon the loss of speed," the press office said in a statement.

Prior to that, "the crew of the patrol ship Sergey Kotov test-fired an AK-176 artillery gun and the vessel’s other armaments as part of the shipbuilders’ sea trials and carried out primary electromagnetic treatment to reduce the hull’s magnetic field," the press office specified.

"Following the shipbuilders’ sea trials, the Shipyard’s staff, together with the crew, will inspect the shipborne systems, assemblies and mechanisms and continue gearing it up for the next stage of state trials. After the state trials are over, the Sergey Kotov will enter service with the Black Sea Fleet and will be permanently based in Novorossiysk," the statement says.

The patrol ship Sergey Kotov, which was named after an outstanding Soviet naval sailor, World War II veteran and Hero of the Soviet Union (1944) Rear Admiral Sergey Kotov, was laid down on May 8, 2016 and is the Project 22160 fourth-built and third serial-produced warship.

The patrol ship Sergey Kotov was constructed at the Zelenodolsk Shipyard in Tatarstan in the Volga area jointly with Kerch shipbuilders. The Black Sea Fleet’s Novorossiysk naval base currently operates three Project 22160 patrol ships: the Vasily Bykov, the Dmitry Rogachev and the Pavel Derzhavin.