Project 20386 is Russia's newest class of

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

s being constructed by

Severnaya Verf Severnaya Verf () is a major shipyard on in Saint Petersburg, Russia, producing naval and civilian ships. It was founded as a branch of the Putilov Plant in the late 1800s. Under the Soviets, the shipyard was generally known as Shipyard No. 19 ...

for 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 ...

. Based on the and classes, the new class was to have been larger, incorporating a more stealthy design. As originally conceived, there were plans to build a series of at least ten such corvettes.

History

The lead ship of the class was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 28 October 2016 and is expected to enter service after 2020. In February 2019, the technical readiness of the lead vessel reached 12%. On 9 April 2019, Russian Defence Minister

Sergey Shoygu Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu; , . (born 21 May 1955) is a Russian politician and military officer who has served as Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Security Council since 2024. He served ...

announced, the ship will be named ''Merkuriy'' ( Mercury). However, the name may have been again changed to ''Derzky''. In July 2021, the superstructure of ''Derzky'' was delivered to

. On 31 May 2023, it was reported that the corvette would be redesigned for further development of innovative solutions. On 7 July 2023, however,

TASS The Russian News Agency TASS, or simply TASS, is a Russian state-owned news agency founded in 1904. It is the largest Russian news agency and one of the largest news agencies worldwide. TASS is registered as a Federal State Unitary Enterpri ...

quoted a source in the Russian defense industry that reported there would be no further construction of corvettes under the Project 20386 in its current form, with the program effectively being closed. The main reasons for this is due to the high cost and new technologies of the corvettes. Instead, more ''Steregushchiy-class'' and ''Gremyashchiy-class'' corvettes will be built by

and the Amur Shipbuilding Plant.

Ships

References

Corvettes of the Russian Navy Corvette classes Ships built at Severnaya Verf {{Russia-mil-ship-stub