Nanuchka-class corvette

Project 1234 Ovod (NATO code Nanuchka-I) class corvette
Class overview
Operators:	Soviet Navy  Russian Navy  Algerian National Navy  Indian Navy  Libyan Navy Libyan People's Army
General characteristics
Type:	Missile corvette
Displacement:	560 long tons (569 t) standard, 660 long tons (671 t) full load
Length:	59.3 m (194.6 ft)
Beam:	12.6 m (41.3 ft)
Draught:	2.4 m (7.9 ft)
Draft:	2.7 m [1]
Propulsion:	3 shaft Diesels, 30,000 hp (22,371 kW)
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h)
Range:	2,500 nautical miles (4,630 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h); 900 nmi (1,667 km) at 30 kn (56 km/h)
Complement:	60
Sensors and processing systems:	Radar: Band Stand fire control Bass Tilt Peel Pair surface search Pop group
Armament:	6 SS-N-9 SSM (2x3) or 4 x SS-N-2 (export ships) 1 SA-N-4 SAM (1x2) - 20 missiles Twin 57mm AK-257 gun (I) or 1 x 76mm AK-176 gun (III) 1 x 30mm AK-630 gun (III)

The Nanuchka class was the NATO reporting name for a series of corvettes or small missile ships built for the Soviet Navy and export customers between 1969 and 1981. The Soviet designation was Project 1234 Ovod (Gadfly) Small Missile Ship.

Variants

These ships were designed around the P-120 Malakhit ("Siren") anti ship missile. Export versions used the P-15 Termit ("Styx") missile. Unlike smaller missile boats, both carry SA-N-4 ("Gecko") SAMs for self-defence. The original Nanuchka I carried a twin 57mm AK-257 main gun, replaced by a 76mm AK-176 in the Nanuchka III. The latter also has a rotary 30mm AK-630 point-defence gun to bolster its protection against missile attack.

Service record

Reportedly the Mirazh, a Nanuchka III corvette, sank a Georgian vessel during an attempted attack on Russian ships off Abkhazia on 10 August 2008.^[2]

Ships

Soviet Navy

• Nanuchka I (Project 1234) - 17 boats - retired in the 1990s, except Musson which was sunk in error by an SSM during an exercise in 1987 (27 fatalities)
• Nanuchka III (Project 1234.1) - 18 boats - about 11 still in service with the Russian Navy
• Nanuchka IV (project 1234.2) - 1 boat Nakat - in Russian Navy service. Trial vessel for P-800 Oniks ASHM

Export customers

• Algeria - 3 ships delivered 1980-81 in service
• India - 3 ships known as the Durg class, last ship decommissioned in 2004.
• Libya - 4 ships delivered 1981-83; Ain Zaquit sunk by US aircraft 24 March 1986 and replaced by a new ship from the USSR.
• Free Libyan Army - 1 ship captured in 2011 from the Libyan Navy

Ship list

Fleets: Baltic Fleet, Northern Fleet, Black Sea Fleet, Pacific Fleet

See also

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

References

1. ↑ Couhat Jean. Combat Fleets of the world 1982/1983 Their Ships, Aircraft, and Armament Paris: Editions Maritimes et d'Outre-Mer, 1981 ISBN 0-87021-125-0 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 78-50192 Pg.2
2. ↑ Russia's Mirazh corvette returns to Sevastopol naval base

• Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995. London: Conway Maritime. ISBN 0-85177-605-1. OCLC 34284130.  Also published as Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen; Budzbon, Przemysław. Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7. OCLC 34267261. 
• Berezhnoy, S.S.; Бережной, С.С.. Malye protivolodochnye i malye raketnye korabli VMF SSSR i Rossii (Малые противолодочные и малые ракетные корабли ВМФ СССР и России). Morskaya Kollektsya no. 2/2001 (in Russian). Moscow: Zhurnal Modelist-konstruktor. OCLC 48149340. 
• "Project 1234 Nanuchka class Guided Missile Corvette". Federation of American Scientists. 2000-09-07. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
• "Guided Missile Corvette Shtil'". SevPortal. Retrieved 2008-01-16.  External link in |publisher= (help); page includes photos
• "Guided Missile Corvette Mirazh". SevPortal. Retrieved 2008-01-16.  External link in |publisher= (help); page includes photos
• All Nanuchka Class Corvettes - Complete Ship List

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nanuchka class corvette.

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  Export Nanuchka II class corvette moored in Leningrad (i.e., Saint Petersburg). Photo was taken in July 1983
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  Libyan Nanuchka II burns after being hit 25 March 1986
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  A port beam view of a Soviet Nanuchka I .