Tarantul class corvette

The Project 1241.1 Molniya (Lightning) are a class of Soviet missile corvettes. The NATO designation is Tarantul. These ships were designed to replace the "Osa" class missile boats. In the late 1970s, the Soviets realised the need for a larger, more seaworthy craft with better gun armament and higher positioned air search radars. The need for these improvements was underscored by the 1990 gulf war, when 12 Iraqi 'Osa-I's' were destroyed or damaged by short ranged Sea Skua anti-ship missiles. They were attacked by British Lynx helicopters, but the Osa crews didn't notice them because they flew below their radar horizon. In the Tarantul, both the single 76 mm main gun and the two 30 mm Gatling-type guns are used for air defence, together with a comprehensive electronic warfare suite. The boats are built by the Petrovsky yard (Leningrad), Rybinsk and Ulis yard (Vladivostok). A version of these ships for coastal anti submarine warfare and patrol was developed as the Pauk class corvette or "Project 1241.2". The Indian navy paid, in the early nineties, approximately $30 million each for their Tarantul-I copies. With plus 30 sales on the export market, the Tarantul has been a relative success for the Russian shipbuilding industry. The status of Tarantul's in the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), the Chinese navy, is disputed. Some sources credit the PLAN with at least one Tarantul presently in use and more than 30 planned (licensed indigenous production), while other sources reject these figures, mostly because of the availability of indigenous 'Houijan' missile corvettes (also with some Russian content).

General characteristics

From Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995

*Displacement: 480 tons standard, 540 tons full load
*Length: 56.0 m
*Beam: 10.5 m
*Draught: 2.4 m
*Machinery: 2 shaft COGAG turbines at 11000 hp each, plus 2 cruising engines at 4000 hp each (there were diesel and turbine versions of the cruising engines)
*Speed: convert|48|kn|km/h|0
*Range: 1650 at convert|14|kn|km/h|0, operational autonomy for 10 days.
*Armament:
* 4 x P-15 Termit/SS-N-2 Styx or 4 x P-270 Moskit/SS-N-22 Sunburn or 8 x Kh-35 Uran/SS-N-25 Switchblade anti-ship missiles.
* 1 SA-N-5 SAM (1x4) MANPAD air defence missiles
* 1 x 76 mm dual purpose main gun
* 2 x AK-630 30 mm gun or 1 x CADS-N-1 Kashtan CIWS (Close-in weapon system) for air defence
*Crew - 50

hips

Soviet Navy

*98 ships built, currently (2005) - 23 Russian Navy

Bulgarian Navy

*1 Ship in service

=East German Navy=

* 5 ships built - all retired including Hiddensee, which is currently a museum ship in Fall River, USA

Indian Navy

Polish Navy

4 built, 2 in service
*ORP Górnik (434) (decommissioned)
*ORP Hutnik (435) (decommissioned)
*ORP Metalowiec (436)
*ORP Rolnik (437)

Romanian Navy

* 3 ships in service

=Vietnam Navy=

* 14 ships in service

Yemen Navy

* 1 ship in service. Another 1 ship unknown status.

External links

* [http://warfare.ru/?linkid=1720&catid=243&type=corvettes State of the Russian Navy]
* [http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/1241.htm Project 1241 Tarantul class Guided Missile Corvette]
* [http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NAVY/Veer.html Bharat Rakshak Indian Navy Veer class]
* [http://flot.sevastopol.info/eng/ship/warfarecorvettes/r109.htm Guided Missile Corvette "R-109" from Russian Black Sea Fleet (with photos)]
* [http://flot.sevastopol.info/eng/ship/warfarecorvettes/r239.htm Guided Missile Corvette "R-239" from Russian Black Sea Fleet (with photos)]
* [http://flot.sevastopol.info/eng/ship/warfarecorvettes/ivanovetc.htm Guided Missile Corvette "Ivanovetc" from Russian Black Sea Fleet (with photos)]