Kotlin class destroyer (Project 56)

The Kotlin class ships were cold-war era destroyers built for the Soviet Navy, The Russian name for this class was Project 56 "Spokoinyy". 27 ships were built between 1955 and 1958, they were all decommissioned in the late 1980s. Kildin class is based on Kotlin's design. The Chinese Luda class destroyer, which is based on the Neustrashimy class destroyer, also borrows some design concepts from the Kotlin class.

Design

This design was a smaller version of the Neustrashimy class destroyer which was seen as being too large and expensive for economic series production, as well as too slow. Detailed design changes eliminated some of the problems seen during trials of the "Neustrashimyy". A production run of 100 ships was planned but this was curtailed because of the advent of the guided missile. 32 were ordered, but 4 ships were completed as "Kildin" class (Project 56E/EM), and the last was canceled.

11 ships were modified for enhanced ASW capabilities by adding rocket depth charge launchers (Project 56PLO, "Kotlin Mod.").

In 1962, the Soviet navy installed the navalized version of S-125 Neva, SA-N-1 'Goa' to a Project 56K Kotlin SAM class destroyer, the "Bravyi" (Bravyy) for testing. The system used 4K90 (V-600) missile that could engage targets from 4 to 15km distance, and altitutde from 0.1 to 10 km. Fire control and guidance was provided by 4R90 Yatagan radar. The system could only track one target a time. The missiles were loaded on the dual-arm launcher ZIF-101, with under-deck magazine for 16 missiles.

The Soviet navy would eventually retrofit 7 Kotlin ships to carry SAMs, these ships were known to NATO as the Kotlin SAM class (Project 56A), one more was modified and sold to Poland (Project 56AE, being the only Project 56 destroyer exported). Later versions of the SAM system, such as the Volna-M (SA-N-1B), Volna-P, and Volna-N provided greater missile range and capability. For more information, please see the SA-N-1 entry.

hips

* Bravyy - was the Kotlin SAM prototype

The ships were scrapped between 1987 and 1990

References

* Also published as cite book |last= Gardiner|first= Robert|authorlink= |coauthors= Chumbley, Stephen; Budzbon, Przemysław|title= Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995|origdate= |origyear= 1995|origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |publisher= Naval Institute Press|location= Annapolis, MD|isbn= 1557501327|oclc= 34267261|doi= |id=

External links

* [http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/56.htm Federation of American Scientists: Project 56 Kotlin class] , Project 56-A Kotlin SAM class, Project 56-PLO Kotlin Mod class Destroyer