The ''Ob'' class, Soviet designation Project 320, was a class of

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 ...

hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...

s active in the 1980s. The ships are , , and . After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

in 1991, the ships became the property of the

Russian government The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...

, but no sources indicate how 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 ...

made use of the ships.

Development

The four ships of the ''Ob''-class hospital ships were designed to provide medical and recreational facilities. They were also employed as personnel transports. They have civilian crews but carry uniformed naval medical personnel. The ships are fully equipped with surgical equipment. Later two units are Project 320 II, implying a modification to the basic design; the external differences are minor. Hospital ship ''Ob'' was decommissioned in 1997 and may have been sold to the

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the People's Navy, PLA Navy or simply Chinese Navy, is the naval warfare military branch, branch of the People's Liberation Army, the national military of the People's Republic of China. It i ...

, as it was mentioned, a retired Russian hospital ship was purchased in 2007 with plans to restore it for PLAN service as hospital ship.

Project 320

* ''Ob'' (1980-1997) * ''Yenisey'' (1981)

Project 320 II

* ''Svir'' (1989) * ''Irtysh'' (1990)

Characteristics

The size of the crew when deployed was nominally 124 sailors and 83 members of the medical staff. The on-board hospital has 300 beds, or in the event of an emergency (e.g. evacuation) for a short time up to 650 passengers. There are more than ten

therapeutic A therapy or medical treatment is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. Both words, ''treatment'' and ''therapy'', are often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx. As a rule, each therapy has indications an ...

and

diagnostic Diagnosis (: diagnoses) is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in a lot of different academic discipline, disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " ...

departments, three operating rooms and one

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

. The ship does not carry armaments. At the stern is a landing area and hangar for one search and rescue helicopter type Kamov Ka-25PS or Ka-27PS. The propulsion system consists of two Zgoda-Sulzer 12ZV40 / 48 diesels, each with an output of 7800 hp, driving two propellers. The top speed reaches 19 knots. The range is 10,000 nautical miles at a speed of 16 knots.

Ship of class

Gallery

File:Ob' class hospital ship in 1982.jpeg, Aerial view of ''Ob'' underway on 1 April 1982 File:Hospital ship "Yenisey" in 1989 (2).jpeg, Aerial view of underway on 5 May 1989 File:Hospital ship "Irtysh" in 1994.jpeg, Aerial starboard side view of the underway

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ob-class Hospital ships of the Soviet Union and Russia Ships built in Poland