KALININGRAD, September 20. /TASS/: The Baltic Fleet’s Project 22800 missile corvette Sovetsk returned to its home naval base in Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad Region after successful cruise missile firings in the White Sea, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.
The missile corvette Sovetsk successfully launched a Kalibr cruise missile from the White Sea to hit a coastal target at the Chizha proving ground in the northwestern Arkhangelsk Region, the press office specified.
"The small missile ship Sovetsk made an inter-fleet transit from the Northern to the Baltic Fleet. The warship covered a distance of over 4,000 nautical miles, passing along internal waterways through the White Sea - Baltic Canal, Lake Ladoga, the Neva River, the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea," the press office said in a statement.
In late August, the crew of the missile corvette Sovetsk deployed to naval training ranges of Russia’s Northern Fleet where it fired a Kalibr cruise missile against a coastal target at the Chizha proving ground. The data recorders indicate that the cruise missile successfully struck the coastal target at a distance of over 1,000 kilometers, the statement says.
"After replenishing supplies and getting a rest, the crew of the small missile ship Sovetsk switched to accomplishing the Baltic Fleet’s planned combat training measures," the press office informed.
Project 22800 Karakurt-class missile corvettes are a series of Russian green-water multipurpose missile/artillery warships. The corvettes of this class developed by specialists of the St. Petersburg-based Almaz Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) are characterized by high sea worthiness and handling characteristics. They are based on the most advanced domestic technologies that allow their effective operation within fleet taskforces both in the northern and southern latitudes.
Karakurt-class corvettes displace about 800 tonnes, develop a speed of over 30 knots and their sea endurance is 15 days. They are armed with Kalibr-NK cruise missiles and upgraded AK-176MA 76.2mm artillery guns.
