- Alligator class landing ship
Project 1171 (Tapir) class landing ship (
NATO reporting name : Alligator) is a class of Soviet /Russia n general purpose, beachableamphibious transport dock s (Soviet classification: Large landing ship, _ru. БДК, большой десантный корабль).Design of Project 1171 was initiated in 1959 by the Navy, while a similar dual-purpose "Project 1173" was ordered by the civilian Ministry of Shipping. Eventually both designs were merged under Project 1171 umbrella, and the resulting ship was a compromise between military (speed,
survivability ) and civil (fuel economy) objectives. Design team produced four different configurations of the ship. The Navy selected the most powerful and fastest option, which was also least fuel-efficient, and the civil Ministry withdrew from the project completely. All production ships were made for the Navy and never operated on shipping lines.ru icon [http://ship.bsu.by/main.asp?id=102137 Encyclopedia of ships] ]A total of 14 vessels were completed between 1964 and 1975; all were retired in 1992—1995.ru icon [http://ship.bsu.by/main.asp?id=102137 Encyclopedia of ships] ] As at September, 2008, two vessels, currently named "Orsk" and "Saratov" are in active service with the 179-th brigade of Russian
Black Sea Fleet . An unidentified number remains in reserve. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/1171.htm]"Saratov" (БДК-65) was launched in July 1964, commissioned in 1966 as "Voronezhsky Komsomolets". As a leader ship of a formation, it lacked the habitable troops compartments installed on other ships of the class. "Saratov" was stationed in
Donuzlav (Black Sea Fleet ) until the Union collapsed and then remained mothballed inOdessa until 1994. The ship was reported in active operations in 2000 and later. [ru icon [http://flot.sevastopol.info/ship/desant/saratov.htm Black Sea Fleet. Saratov LST] ]"Orsk" (БДК-69) was launched and commissioned in 1968 as "Nikolay Obekov". It served a total of 11 campaigns in Indian and Atlantic oceans and the Mediterranean. Later, under Russian flag, it carried peacekeeping troops and materials to
Yugoslavia ,Adjaria andAbkhasia . [ru icon [http://flot.sevastopol.info/ship/desant/orsk.htm Black Sea Fleet. Orsk LST] ]Some vessels were used in the
2008 South Ossetia war .Fact|date=September 2008References
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