MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. The Project 22800 Karakurt-class latest missile corvette Tsiklon built at the Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch has joined the Russian Navy, the Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.
"Today an official ceremony took place at the [Zaliv] Shipyard named after Butoma in the city of Kerch to accept the missile corvette Tsiklon for service with the Russian Navy and raise the St. Andrew’s naval flag on its board. The ceremony was held under the direction of Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolay Yevmenov," the ministry said in a statement.
The Tsiklon missile corvette has become the first naval ship for the Kerch-based Shipyard in the past 25 years that has undergone a full cycle of its construction at the shipbuilding enterprise, including a set of trials, it said.
Pursuant to the fleet tradition, Admiral Yevmenov handed over the naval flag to the ship’s commander. This ceremony marked the starting point for the missile corvette Tsiklon and its crew. By order of the Russian Navy’s chief, the warship was assigned to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
"The ship will reinforce the Black Sea Fleet’s surface component and effectively deal with its assigned missions as part of the Fleet’s taskforces and groupings," the ministry quoted Admiral Yevmenov as saying.
Project 22800 Karakurt-class missile corvettes are a Russian series of green-water multipurpose missile/artillery ships designed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau of Marine Engineering. They displace 800 metric tons and are armed with the Kalibr-NK cruise missile system.