Replenishment of the Russian Navy with minesweepers of a new generation, created according to Project 12700 "Alexandrite", will significantly strengthen the country's defense capabilities.

So experts interviewed by RT commented on the laying of the next ship of this type, which took place in St. Petersburg at the Sredne-Nevsky shipyard.

“Ships of this class are always needed by the navy.

Moreover, the Russian military leadership recognized this project as successful.

Therefore, the Navy orders them in series, because during the deployment of hostilities, the likely enemy will block Russian warships with mines.

In this situation, one cannot do without minesweepers, "said Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, military expert, in a conversation with RT.

The new ship, laid down on September 9 in St. Petersburg, is named after the Hero of the Soviet Union Afanasy Ivannikov.

During the Great Patriotic War, he served as commander of the T-115 minesweeper in the Northern Fleet.

In November and December 1944 alone, in the polar night conditions, his minesweeper made 28 combat exits, defusing 110 enemy mines.

By January 1945, Afanasy Ivannikov had a total of 104 military campaigns, during which he escorted 232 allied and Soviet transport ships with military cargo and repelled eight attacks from enemy submarines.

  • Groundbreaking ceremony for the mine defense ship Afanasy Ivannikov

  • © www.aoosk.ru

Speaking at the solemn ceremony on the occasion of the laying of the new ship, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, emphasized that the ships of this project showed themselves well both in tests and in practice at sea in solving assigned tasks.

“We looked at and analyzed how this minesweeper behaves both in the Baltic Sea and in the North.

This is a comfortable and reliable ship both for the crew and for performing combat missions.

The Navy certainly needs such ships.

The Project 12700 mine defense ship is universal and has a large modernization reserve, ”noted Evmenov.

New generation

The Afanasy Ivannikov anti-mine ship in the base zone will become the ninth vessel in the Alexandrite project line, developed at the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau.

The Ministry of Defense classifies these ships as a new generation of mine-sweeping forces.

The lead ship of Project 12700 is the minesweeper Alexander Obukhov, transferred to the Navy in 2016.

The materials of the Central Marine Design Bureau "Almaz" indicate that these vessels are intended for mine protection of sea bases, coastal sea territories, detection and destruction of mines of all types, providing mine protection of ships at sea crossing, their own exclusive economic zone and mineral deposits in the sea, as well as conducting mine reconnaissance and setting minefields.

"In periods of low probability of a mine threat, ships can be used both to protect the water area and for training purposes," the developers say.

  • Mine-sweeping ship "Yakov Balyaev"

  • © mil.ru

The minesweepers of this project can detect mines both in the water of sea areas and in the sea soil, without entering the danger zone.

To combat mines, ships can use various types of trawls, as well as remotely controlled and autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles.

The displacement of the ships of the project 12700 is 890 tons, the length of the hull is 61.6 m, the width is 10.3 m. The vessel can reach speeds of up to 16 knots.

With a cruising range of 1,500 miles, autonomy is maintained for ten days.

The minesweeper is controlled by a crew of 44 people.

To detect and destroy mines on these ships, the Livadia-ME hydroacoustic mine detection station, the Diez-12700E automated mine countermeasures control system, two Alister 9-type autonomous anti-mine underwater vehicles and two K-Ster I controlled underwater vehicles are installed on these vessels.

In addition, the Aleksandrit project minesweepers have ten K-Ster C single-use ROVs and one Inspector-MK2 ROV.

In addition to mine action equipment, combat weapons are also installed on these ships: a 30-mm six-barreled automatic naval artillery mount AK-306, eight MANPADS, a 14.5 mm naval machine gun mount or two 12.7 mm machine guns.

“During the construction of such ships at the Sredne-Nevsky shipyard, the latest Russian technologies are used, which have no analogues in the world shipbuilding,” the press service of the Ministry of Defense emphasizes.

- The ships of this project have a unique, largest in the world hull made of monolithic fiberglass, formed by vacuum infusion.

The weight of such a case is much lower than that of a metal one.

At the same time, its strength increases significantly.

Such a body is not afraid of corrosion, and the service life, subject to the standards of operation, is unlimited. "

According to Nikolai Evmenov, the Russian Navy intends to order ten more ships of Project 12700.

"Resolve Mine Defense Issues"

Experts also pay special attention to the hull of these vessels, created using fiberglass.

“Previously, such ships were made of wood, today they are built using fiberglass.

The absence of metal allows us to make the mine detection process simpler and safer, "a military expert, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin, explained in an interview with RT.

It is worth noting that for many types of mines and torpedoes, fuses react to the anomalous magnetic field of massive metal objects.

However, the fiberglass minesweeper is not detected by submarine magnetometers, torpedo homing systems and sea mine sensors, which makes it more efficient and safer.

In turn, Igor Korotchenko drew attention to the equipment installed on such ships for searching for mines.

“It houses remotely controlled underwater vehicles that can scan the water column, the bottom, determine the most dangerous situations, help in neutralizing minefields, which makes it possible to successfully solve mine defense issues,” the analyst said.

Viktor Litovkin believes that such vessels are an important element in ensuring the country's defense capability.

“If a potential enemy has blocked Russian warships in the bays with mines, then they will not be able to carry out their combat missions and become useless.

To exclude the occurrence of such a situation, such ships are needed.

So there is an objective need for such anti-mine ships, ”the expert concluded.