Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.



USS Louisiana (BB-19)

MSW crew-mate Bruce Kapito (BKapito) shares his first submission, an excellent build story of the USS Louisiana (BB-19) USS Louisiana (BB-19), in this "On Display" feature.




Yantar shipyard will launch two frigates for India till the end of 2010
Source: RIA Novosti

Baltic shipyard Yantar plans to launch next two frigates for Indian Navy by the end of 2010; currently, basic equipment is being installed on the ships, reported Monday RIA Novosti citing the shipyard's official.

"We're planning to launch two frigates made for India by the end of 2010; hulls have been already completed. Presently, basic equipment is being installed on the ships; in particular, one of them is being loaded with armament", said the shipyard's representative.

The contract on construction of three Project 11356 frigates was signed in Delhi on July 14, 2006; the contract value is about $1.5 bln. Three ships obtained the names of Teg (Sabre), Tarkash (Quiver) and Trikand (Bow).

First frigate (Teg) was launched late Nov 2009.

Present-day frigate is multipurpose intermediate tonnage ship designed for conducting warfare against surface ships and submarines in ocean and sea regions, and also for repelling aerial attacks.

Basic characteristics of Project 11356 frigate: length is 125 meters; beam is 15 meters; extreme draft at full displacement is 7 meters; total displacement is 4,000 tonnes; operational range at 14 knots with maximum fuel load is 5,000 miles; full speed is 32 knots.

"Generally, about 1,500 - 2,000 shipwrights are engaged in various construction phases of the ships", noted the interviewee.

The shipyard is supposed to deliver the whole series of three frigates to the orderer in 2011-2012, specified the source.

"We intend to deliver frigate Teg as soon as 2011; Tarkash and Trikand will be also delivered by terms provided by the contract", added Yantar's representative.

The ships will be armed with eight supersonic antiship cruise missiles BrahMos and 24 vertically launched Shtil SAM missiles. Artillery armament of the ships will include 100-mm gun mount and two Kashtan anti-aircraft gun/missile systems. Frigates will be also equipped with ASW helicopter and 533-mm torpedo tubes.

Yantar shipyard was established after WW2 in 1945 on the basis of Koenigsberg branch of Schihau shipyard; it is specialized in various classes of naval and civil vessels with launching weight up to 10,000 tonnes, and in ship repairs as well. Through its life, the shipyard built over 150 warships, 100 large and more than 400 small civil craft, repaired over 430 naval and civil vessels.

Yantar is the only Russian shipyard located in the southeast Baltic, close to largest industrial centers of Europe.

Kaliningrad is Russian ice-free port at the Baltic Sea and the capital city of Russia's westernmost region enjoying the status of a special economic zone and possessing advanced transport infrastructure.


Test launches of SLBM Bulava will be resumed in summer 2010, informs ITAR-TASS referring to the source in Navy Main HQ.
Source: Russian Navy

At least two test launches will be carried out from SSBN Dmitry Donskoy; once they are successful, trials will be continued in autumn 2010 on SSBN Yury Dolgoruky. At first it is planned to perform single launch, then – in case of success – multiple launch, specified the source.

In Dec 2009 it was reported by RIA Novosti with the reference to top-ranking military official that Bulava tests would be continued in January or in summer when the White Sea is unfrozen.

Twelfth test launch of SLBM Bulava failed; the missile was launched from submerged SSBN Dmitry Donskoy on Dec 9 at the White Sea. Unstable operation of third stage powerplant was registered during the missile flight; it deviated from required track.

Seven out of twelve Bulava launches were considered unsuccessful, one – entirely successful. Failure origin is so called "gliding error" which every time occurs in another section. According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, all test launches of Bulava cost Russia not less than 100 bln rub.

Bulava is a submarine-based intercontinental ballistic missile. It is designed for destruction of critical strategic targets at enemy territory. Bulava missiles are planned to be based on Project 941 Akula submarines (example – Dmitry Donskoy) and Project 955 Borei (Yury Dolgoruky, Alexander Nevsky, and Vladimir Monomakh). SLBM Bulava is currently under development in Moscow Thermotechnics Institute.

Presently, Bulava passes pre-commission test launches from SSBN Dmitry Donskoy. Bulava missiles production will be established at FSUE Votkinsky Zavod which produces ICBM Topol-M as well.

Bulava is expected to stop ageing of Russian sea-based nuclear force and even change it in degree. According to the missile's general designer Yury Solomonov, neither current and prospective US ballistic missile defense system nor being developed German, French and Japanese BMD systems will not be capable to track Bulava.

CHARACTERISTICS
Number of stages: 3
Length with warhead: 12.1 meters
Length without warhead: 11.5 meters
Diameter: 2 meters
Launch weight: 36.8 tonnes
Throw-weight: 1,150
Fuel type: solid mixture
Flight range: 8,000 km
Warhead type: multiple, nuclear, jettisonable
Number of warheads: 6
Yield: 6 x 150 kiloton
Guidance: autonomous, inertial, by on-board digital computer complex




Tupolev offers naval patrol variant of Tu-214
Source: Russian Navy

Tupolev offers naval patrol variant of Tu-214
Source: Russian Navy

Tupolev offers to Russian defense ministry naval patrol aircraft based on civil airliner Tu-214, said Alexander Bobryshev, president of the company to Interfax-AVN on Dec 31.

Perspective aircraft will be powered by two engines PS-90A with advanced parameters. Tu-214 is a long-endurance and long-range aircraft, added Mr. Bobryshev.

In 90-ies Tupolev Design Bureau developed naval patrol aircraft Tu-204P on the basis of Tu-214. Ministry of Defense endorsed that project in 1998; naval pilots tested Tu-214 in the same year. In 2000, however, the project was frozen due to underfinancing.

Perspective aircraft will perform tasks at long and middle ranges; it will change Il-38 and Tu-142 which are presently in service at naval aviation.




USS Pennsylvania BB-38

Today’s website is the USS Pennsylvania BB-38. Enjoy.


This Day in U.S. Naval History

1911 - First aircraft landing aboard a ship, USS Pennsylvania (ACR 4) by Eugene Ely.
1962 - After a flash fire in the Persian Gulf burned a crewman on the Danish tanker Prima Maersk, USS Duxbury Bay (AVP 38) transfers a Navy doctor to help the crewman. USS Soley (DD 707) took him to the nearest hospital at Bahrain Island.
1968 - Operation Coronado X begins in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
1977 - The Trident (C-4) missile development flight test program commenced when C4X-1 was launched from a flight pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
1991 - USS Nicholas (FFG 47) attacks and captures Iraqi oil platforms.


Photo of the Day



Waves crash over the bow of the guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64).

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