Project 23550 is a class of armed

icebreaking An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

patrol ship A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

s under construction 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 ...

. Two ships were ordered from Saint Petersburg-based

Admiralty Shipyards The JSC Admiralty Shipyards () (''formerly Soviet Shipyard No. 194'') is one of the oldest and largest shipyards in Russia, located in Saint Petersburg. The shipyard's building ways can accommodate ships of up to , in length and in width. Mili ...

in 2016. The ships are designed to patrol the Russian territorial waters and

exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

in the Arctic. The ships are also referred as "Arktika" type (). During the launching ceremony of the lead ship, it was announced that two additional ships of slightly revised design would be built for the

FSB Border Service of Russia The Border Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation ( BS of the FSB of the RF, ) is a branch of the Federal Security Service of Russia tasked with patrol of the Russian border. The terms Border Service of Russia () and ...

Vyborg Shipyard Vyborg Shipyard PJSC () is a shipbuilding company located in Vyborg, Russia. The company has a focus on icebreakers and other icegoing vessels for arctic conditions, but the company has also built deep sea semi-submersible floating Oil platform, dr ...

. The derivative design is also referred to as "Ermak" type ().

Design

Project 23550 patrol ships have a planned displacement of , a length of and a draught of . The ships will be equipped with two s, a helicopter and small hovercraft. The core crew is planned at 60 with accommodation for an additional 50 mission specialists. Armament will include a naval gun (some sources state a naval gun) and Kalibr anti-ship missiles in the container variant. Project 23550 will have an

integrated electric propulsion Integrated electric propulsion (IEP), full electric propulsion (FEP) or integrated full electric propulsion (IFEP) is an arrangement of marine propulsion systems such that gas turbines or diesel generators or both generate three-phase electricity ...

with four

Kolomna Kolomna (, ) is a historic types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva River, Moskva and Oka Rivers, (by rail) southeast of Moscow. Population: History Mentioned for the fir ...

main diesel gensets consisting of 10D49

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s driving

alternator An alternator (or synchronous generator) is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field wit ...

s produced by Ruselprom. In addition, the ships will have two auxiliary diesel gensets with Kolomna diesel engines and Ruselprom alternators. While the early concept featured

ABB ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Excha ...

Azipod Azipod is a trademarked azimuth thruster pod design, a marine propulsion unit consisting of a fixed pitch propeller mounted on a steerable gondola ("pod") containing the electric motor driving the propeller, allowing ships to be more maneuverab ...

azimuthing propulsion units, the final design has two conventional shaft lines, propellers and rudders. The propulsion motors will be produced by Ruselprom. The ships will have an endurance of 70 days and a range of at economic speed of . Their maximum speed is . The vessels are strengthened for navigation in ice-covered arctic seas according to the

Russian Maritime Register of Shipping The Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RMRS) () maintains a ship registration, ship register of the Russia, Russian Federation, based in Saint Petersburg, and is a marine classification society. Its activities aim to enhance safety of naviga ...

ice class Arc7. They are designed to break ice up to thick. Think tank

Global Security ''International Security'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of international and national security. It was founded in 1976 and is edited by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and publish ...

pointed out several similarities between the Project 23550 design and , and Canada's . All three class are of approximately the same displacement, capable of transitting similar thickness of ice and have similar size crews, with room for mission specialist. Project 23550 is, however, much more heavily armed. In 2020, it was announced that the Russian Navy would begin

sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s to test the installation of module containers on patrol vessels permitting such ships to carry significantly upgraded armaments tailored to different missions. The containers were envisaged to carry various weapons including sonars and torpedoes or anti-ship and cruise missiles.

Ships in class

References

{{Soviet and Russian ships after 1945 Icebreakers of Russia Patrol ship classes Patrol vessels of the Russian Navy Proposed ships