"These are coast guard boats, not US Navy ships, they are designed to protect the shoreline. They have one gun installation and nothing more. They are decommissioned, ships for 30 years. The USA transferred them to Georgia, now to Ukraine. America provides assistance, Poroshenko himself will take. Most likely, they will be transferred to the Azov Sea, to Berdyansk, "Dandykin said.
The expert noted that with the transfer of boats there will be no significant increase in the fleet of Ukraine.
"This is a slightly different class of ships. If we compare it to our patrol ships that enter the Black Sea Fleet (the "Vasiliy Bykov" is the first to arrive, there will be six such), this is a serious unit: about 2 thousand tons of displacement can be carried by a helicopter. And these are boats: a displacement of, say, 300 tons, we have a gun here ... More political fact than a military one, "Dandykin concluded.
Earlier it became known that the US would hand over two decommissioned patrol boats to Ukraine. It's about the 110-foot Drummond and Cushing class "Island".