User:Kges1901/Soviet destroyer Strogy (1967)

Strogy (Строгий, "Strict") was a Project 61 (NATO reporting name Kashin)-class destroyer of the Soviet Navy, which briefly became part of the Russian Navy. The ship served during the Cold War from 1968.

Design
Sposobny was one of the second series of her class of twenty Soviet Designation Project 61 Berkut A (NATO reporting name Kashin-class) destroyers. The vessels were initially designated as guard ships, but in 1966 were reclassified as Large Anti-Submarine Ships. All surviving ships, including Sposobny, were again reclassified as guard ships in January 1992. The class was built to replace the Kotlin-class destroyer and Riga-class frigate, rendered obsolete by the advent of guided missiles. It was designed to defend larger warships and transports against low-flying aircraft, cruise missiles, and submarines, though the anti-submarine role ultimately became secondary to its air defense mission. They were the first class designed to survive a nuclear explosion, and as a result had the main ship control station on the lower deck deep in the hull, separate from the enclosed bridge.

The Kashin-class destroyers were 144 m long with a beam of 15.8 m and a draught of 4.46 m. Sposobny displaced 3440 t standard and 4290 t full load, and had a complement of 266. The ship was equipped with a helicopter pad aft to carry a single Kamov Ka-25PL Hormone-A helicopter; the helicopter could only be temporarily aboard the ship due to the lack of a hangar.

Sposobny was propelled by two CODAG shafts powered by four M-3A gas turbines, which created 72,000 shp, giving her a maximum speed of 34 kn; her class were the first Soviet warships equipped with gas turbines. She had a range of 3,500 nmi at 18 kn and 2000 nmi at 30 kn.

Armament
For her air defense role, she was equipped with two double ZIF-101 launchers with sixteen V-600 missiles each for the M-1 Volna surface-to-air missile system (NATO reporting name SA-N-1 Goa), a navalised version of the S-125 Neva. Two double AK-726 76.2 mm guns protected against both aerial and surface threats. She was also equipped with two 12-barrel RBU-6000 and two 6-barrel RBU-1000 anti-submarine rocket launchers, and a quintuple mounting for 533 mm dual-role torpedoes. The Ka-25 helicopter that could be landed on the destroyer was also capable of aiding in the search and destruction of submarines.

Sensors and electronic warfare
As a ship of the second series of her class, Sposobny was equipped with more advanced sensors. Instead of the two MR-300 search radars of the first series, she received an MR-310 Angara on her foremast and an MR-500U Kliver on the mainmast. She differed from the earlier members of her series in being equipped with two more advanced Volga navigational radars on the foremast instead of a single Don radar. The destroyer was equipped with MG-312 Titan and MG-311 Vychegda sonar.

For fire control, Sposobny received the Yatagan fire control system for her Volna, the Turel for her AK-726, and the Groza for her torpedoes. Sposobny also had a MG-26 communications outfit, a Triton transceiver, the MPP-315 remote indicator for her Volga, and the Nikel-KM identification friend or foe system. For electronic warfare she was equipped with the MRP 13-14 direction finding system.

Construction and service
Built in the 61 Communards Shipyard in Nikolayev with the serial number 1709, the destroyer was laid down on 22 February 1966, launched on 29 April 1967, and commissioned on 24 December 1968, under the command of Captain 3rd rank Mikhail Khronopulo. The naval jack of the Soviet Union was raised aboard her two days after the commissioning. Strogy was added to the Navy List on 12 January 1968.

1970s
The destroyer became part of the Pacific Fleet on 8 January 1969, and shortly afterwards began the voyage to the join the fleet through the eastern Mediterranean and Suez Canal to the Pacific. Between 7 and 15 December she visited Berbera, Mogadishu, and Kismayo in Somalia. After arriving at Vladivostok, Strogy was assigned to the 175th Missile Ship Brigade on 28 April 1970, and was visited by Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Chuikov on 1 June.

Between 20 December 1971 and 15 June 1972 she served in the Indian Ocean, visiting Massawa, Ethiopia between 3 and 8 February during the Ethiopian Navy Day celebration, where she received a visit from Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. Along with the missile cruiser Varyag, Strogy visited Mogadishu between 10 and 19 February, where she was visited by Soviet Minister of Defense Andrei Grechko and Somali leader Siad Barre. She demonstrated her weaponry for Grechko and Barre, including the launch of two V-600 missiles against a simulated aerial target. Strogy steamed 28530 nmi during the cruise under the flag of Kontr-admiral Vladimir Kruglyakov, visiting Bombay, India, Umm Qasr, Iraq, Port Louis, Mauritius, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Aden, Yemen as well as Massawa and Mogadishu. While still at sea, she was transferred to the 201st Anti-Submarine Warfare Brigade on 2 April.

After returning to Vladivostok, Strogy was presented a Red Banner by the Primorsky Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for being the "best warship of the fleet". She received the 1972 prize of the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy for anti-submarine training with the hunting group of destroyers Steregushchy and Uporny. Between 24 and 30 March 1974 as part of a hunting group she repulsed simulated air attacks from three different directions at low altitudes. With a hunting group of Stergushchy and Vyzyvayushchy, she participated in submarine search training in a designated sector, detecting the submarine 40 minutes after beginning the search and passing the contact on to other ships between 25 and 26 April. Between 26 and 31 May, with an anti-submarine group under the leadership of the 201st Brigade commander and attached aviation, she used Kolos-NM non-acoustic detection equipment to track a submarine contact.

After practice firing exercises with the RM-15 target missile as part of a strike group with the cruiser Marshal Voroshilov and her sister ship Steregushchy on 3 July, Strogy accompanied Steregushchy and the destroyerVyzyvayushchy on a night minelaying exercise between 8 and 9 August. As part of a hunting group with Steregushchy and the destroyer Gnevny, she received the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy's prize for nuclear submarine search on 1 November. Transferred to the 79th Brigade of Ships undergoing construction or overhaul on 18 November for a midlife refit at Dalzavod, the destroyer returned to the 201st Brigade on 6 June 1976 after the completion of her refit. As part of a hunting group with the cruiser Admiral Oktyabrsky, the destroyer Gordy, Gnevny, and the frigate Razyashchy, she participated in missile defense exercises on 26 March 1977, receiving a rating of excellent. With Admiral Oktyabrsky and Gordy, she participated in the Piton anti-submarine exercise in the Philippine Sea between 14 April and 14 May 1977, during which she was claimed to have detected multiple United States nuclear submarines.

Strogy cruised in the Indian Ocean with the 8th Operational Squadron between 2 December and 16 October 1978. She made an official visit to Victoria, Seychelles under the flag of squadron commander Vice Admiral N. Ya. Isakov between 2 and 7 July, followed by a stopover at Haiphong, Vietnam between 5 and 10 November.

1980s and end of service
[could we get some more details of the Ukrainian attempt to seize control? Buckshot06 (talk) 09:43, 25 November 2018 (UTC)] [16.7.86 during a command staff exercise, collided with BPK "Nikolayev" in the La Perouse Strait - repaired at Dalzavod, Vladivostok; 1.11.90 relegated to the reserve; 30.6.93 decomissioned; 12.94 sold to a company in India for scrapping; 1995 sank off Singapore in a storm, while being towed to Bombay, India - details from Holm @ www.ww2.dk Buckshot06 (talk) 09:45, 25 November 2018 (UTC)]

During her career, Strogy was assigned the temporary tactical numbers 528 (in 1968), 543 (in 1971), 564 (in 1972), 504 (in 1974), 545, and 100 (in 1985).