Ropucha-class landing ship

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The Ropucha-class landing ship Kaliningrad during a visit of the Cartagena in 2004.
Class overview
Name	Ropucha class
Builders	Stocznia Północna Shipyard, Gdańsk, Poland
Operators	Russian Navy  Ukrainian Navy Yemeni Navy
Preceded by	Polnocny class
Succeeded by	Ivan Gren class
Subclasses	Project 775 (Ropucha I), Project 775M (Ropucha II)
In commission	1960
Completed	28
Active	Project 775: 12 Project 775M: 3
Retired	13
General characteristics [1]
Type	Landing ship/Landing Ship Tank
Displacement	2,200 tons standard 4,080 tons full load
Length	112.5 m (369 ft 1 in)
Beam	15 m (49 ft 3 in)
Draft	3.7 m (12 ft 2 in)
Propulsion	2 diesel engines; 2 propellers, 19,200 hp (14,300 kW)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range	6,100 nmi (11,300 km; 7,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Capacity	10 main battle tanks and 340 troops or 12 BTR and 340 troops or 3 main battle tanks, 3 2S9 Nona-S, 5 MT-LB, 4 army trucks and 313 troops or 500 tons of cargo
Complement	87–98
Armament	2 × 2 57 mm AK-257 guns (Ropucha I) 1 × 76 mm AK-176 (Ropucha II) 2 × 30 122 mm rocket launcher A-215 Grad-M Strela 2(SA-N-5) surface-to-air missile system (4 launchers) 2 × 30 mm AK-630 six-barreled gatling guns (Ropucha II)

The Ropucha class, Soviet designation Project 775, is a class of landing ships (large landing ship in Soviet classification) built in Poland for the Russian Navy. The ships were built in Poland in the Stocznia Północna shipyards in Gdańsk. Designed for beach landings, they can carry a 450-ton cargo. The ships have both bow- and stern-doors for loading and unloading vehicles, and the 630 square metres (6,800 sq ft) of vehicle deck stretches the length of the hull. Up to 25 armored personnel carriers can be embarked.

While designed for roll-on/roll-off operations, they can also be loaded using dockside cranes. For this purpose there is a long sliding hatch-cover above the bow section for access to the vehicle deck. There are no facilities for helicopters.

In total, 28 ships of this type were commissioned from 1975 to 1991. The last three ships were of the improved variant Project 775M, also called Ropucha II. These have improved defensive armament and accommodation for an increased number of troops.

Operational history[]

Landing ship Georgiy Pobedonosec on exercises in the Barents Sea

BDK Alexander Shabalin

Most of the ships became part of the Russian Navy after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. They were used for landing troops at the Georgian port of Poti during the 2008 South Ossetia war and for deliveries of cargo during the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War.

One ship of the class was delivered to the South Yemen in 1979 and served the Yemeni Navy until 2002, after it was sold as a civilian cargo named Sam of Yemen. It was the only unit of this class in service outside the former Soviet Union.

On 3 August 2012, international media reported that three vessels of the class, Aleksandr Otrakovskiy, Georgiy Pobedonosets and Kondopoga would visit the Russian naval base in Tartus, Syria. The ships were part of the Northern Fleet. Earlier reports, quoting a source at the Russian general staff, said the ships would spend a few days in Tartus and would take on fresh supplies of food and water. British media added that the ships each had up to 120 marines on board. The Russian defence ministry left open the possibility that the ships might dock there at some point for logistical reasons, saying they had every right to do so. The General Staff source, who was not named, had said that after calling in at Tartus they would head for the Bosphorus and the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.^[2][3] From 2013 on, ten Ropucha-class ships, gathered from all four Russian fleets, were used to transport military equipment from Novorosiysk to Tartus in Syria, during an intervention in Syrian civil war, along with Ropucha-class ships.^[4]

The Ukrainian Navy's only ship of the class, Kostiantyn Olshansky, was reportedly seized by Russian troops and accepted into service with the Russian Navy after the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in March 2014.^[5]

All ships of the Russia's Black Sea Fleet, namely Caesar Kunikov, Novocherkassk, Yamal and Azov were modernized with installation of the Tsentavr-NM2S, Auriga and SAILOR satellite communication systems.^[6]

See also[]

• List of ships of the Soviet Navy
• List of ships of Russia by project number
• List of active Russian Navy ships

References[]

• "Project 775 Ropucha class Tank Landing ship". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2 April 2007.
• Polmar, Norman (1991). The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy (5th ed.). Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute. pp. 217–218. ISBN 9780870212413 – via Google Books.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ropucha class landing ship.

• Russian Littoral Warfare Ships at Hazegray.org
• Yemeni Navy at Hazegray.org
• All Ropucha Class Landing Ships - Complete Ship List at Russianships.info