The Kashin class, Soviet designation Project 61, were series of anti-aircraft

guided-missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers which have a pr ...

s built for the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

since the 1960s. , no ships remain in service with the

Russian Navy The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...

, but three modified ships continue in service with the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

as s. In the Soviet Union they were officially classified as "guard ships" (''storozhevoi korabl'' – SKR), then "large ASW ships" (BPK) or "large missile ships" (BRK), but in the rest of world they are commonly regarded as missile destroyers due to their size and armament. They were the first Soviet purpose-built

anti-air warfare Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...

ships and the first to carry an ASW helicopter.

Design

49KashinClassDestroyerMediterraneanJan1970

The design specification was approved in 1957; the first ship was laid down in 1959 and commissioned in 1962. Many new components were developed for these ships, including

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

s, and

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

engines. The gas turbines were arranged in two separate spaces and could be removed via the funnels for servicing. These were also the first Soviet ships designed to be closed down for nuclear fallout and had an operations room deep inside the ship rather than a large bridge. The final ship in the class, Sderzhanny, was completed to a modified design as the Project 61M or 61MP ( Kashin-Mod), being fitted with four

SS-N-2 The P-15 ''Termit'' (; ) is an anti-ship missile developed by the Soviet Union's MKB Raduga, Raduga design bureau in the 1950s. Its GRAU designation was 4K40, its NATO reporting name was ''Styx'' or SS-N-2. China acquired the design in 1958 and ...

C Styx anti-ship missiles, new towed-array

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

, a raised

helipad A helipad is the landing area of a heliport, in use by helicopters, powered lift, and vertical lift aircraft to land on surface. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fa ...

and four close range

AK-630 The AK-630 is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian fully automatic naval, rotary cannon, close-in weapon system. The "630" designation refers to the weapon's six gun barrels and their 30 mm caliber. The system is mounted in an enclosed automatic ...

Gatling guns. The two RBU-1000 ASW rocket launchers were mounted aft, but later removed. Six ships were modernised to this standard in the 1970s. was modernised (Project 01090) at

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

in the early 1990s and fitted with new

Kh-35 The Zvezda Kh-35 (, NATO reporting name AS-20 'Kayak') is a Soviet turbojet subsonic cruise anti-ship missile. The missile can be launched from helicopters, surface ships and coastal defence batteries with the help of a rocket booster, in whic ...

(SS-N-25 Switchblade, ''Harpoonski'') anti-ship missiles and MNK-300 sonar. In 2020 she decommissioned and opened as a Museum at

. The modification built for the Indian Navy has the aft gun turret replaced by a hangar for a helicopter, as well as SS-N-2C anti-ship missiles on the sides of the bridge.

Variants

* Project 61 (Kashin class): Original design (19 ships). * Project 61MP ( Modified Kashin class): Modernization of the Project 61 vessels (5 ships). * Project 61M (Modified Kashin class): Upgraded design (1 ship). * Project 61E (): Export version, used by the

(5 ships).

Ships

In all, twenty ships were built for the

, one ship () was later transferred to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, while five similar ships were built to a modified design for the

as ''Rajput'' class. File:Strogiy.jpg, ''Strogy'' in October 1985. File:SA-N-1 launcher.jpg, The bow of ''Strogy'' after a collision File:Warszawa II TW 6-91.jpg, ORP ''Warszawa'' File:INS Ranvijay Malabar 07.jpg, INS ''Ranvijay''

References

Notes

Sources

* * V.V. Kostrichenko, A.A Prostokishin (В.В.Костриченко, А.А.Простокишин): ''"Poyushchiye fryegaty". Bolshiye protivolodochniye korabli proyekta 61'' (''«Поющие фрегаты» Большие противолодочные корабли проекта 61''), Morskaya Kollektsya 1/1999

External links

– article in Russian language, Russian
– article in English from the Federation of American Scientists

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kashin-class destroyer Destroyer classes Ships of the Russian Navy Ships of the Soviet Navy