''Admiral Zakharov'' was a of 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 ...

. She was named after Soviet admiral

Mikhail Zakharov Mikhail Nikolayevich Zakharov () (5 November 1912 – 19 February 1978) was an officer of the Soviet Navy. He saw action in the Second World War and rose to the rank of admiral. Born in Saint Petersburg, in the Russian Empire in 1912, Zakha ...

Development and design

Project 1155 dates to the 1970s when it was concluded that it was too costly to build large-displacement, multi-role combatants. The concept of a specialized surface ship was developed by Soviet designers. They are 156 m in length, 17.3 m in beam and 6.5 m in draught.

Construction and career

''Admiral Zakharov'' 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 16 October 1981, and launched on 4 November 1982 by

Yantar Shipyard Yantar Shipyard () is a Russian shipbuilding company based in Kaliningrad, Russia. Yantar Shipyard builds military ships, including antisubmarine and patrol craft, as well as civil vessels such as fishing trawlers and seiners. It is a part of th ...

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

. She was commissioned on 30 December 1983. On January 18, 1984, the ship was included in the Pacific Fleet. The naval ensign was raised on 25 March 1984. In 1985, the ''Admiral Zakharov'' was considered the best ship of the

Baltic Fleet The Baltic Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. Established 18 May 1703, under Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Baltic Fleet is the oldest Russian fleet. In 1918, the fleet w ...

as a part of the Baltic squadron of heterogeneous forces (commander - 2nd rank captain Viktor Vladimirovich Onofriychuk). In 1987, she made the transition to the Pacific Fleet. From 21 to 25 October 1987, she paid visits to

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, then from November 6 to November 11 to

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

, from November 17 to November 23 to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

, and from November 29 to 3 December the ship made a friendly visit to

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Between 12–16 May 1988 as part of a detachment of ships under the flag of the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral G. A. Khvatov, the ship engaged in technical cooperation and an exchange of visits between the ships of 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 ...

and the

DPRK North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu (Amnok) and Tumen rivers, a ...

and also paid an official visit to

Wonsan Wonsan (), previously known as Wonsanjin (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwon Province (North Korea), Kangwon Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan and the provincial capital. ...

. In the winter of 1988–1989 the ship undertook various tasks of combat service in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

. In February 1989, the ship, together with floating base Ivan Kolyshkin, the minesweepers Rear Admiral Pershin, Kharkovsky Komsomolets and Vice-Admiral Zhukov, carried out the mission of protecting peaceful USSR shipping in the

zone. Arriving at the end of 1988, by 23 February 1989, she escorted six convoys of 15 ships (where the commander of the navigational combat unit, Lieutenant-Commander Alexander Marchenko, distinguished himself). For the entire time while the ship was part of the 8th operational squadron (autumn 1988–winter 1989), she escorted 21 ships in eight convoys (according to other sources, 53 ships in 23 convoys). The ship was commanded at this time by the captain of the 2nd rank A. V. Piskunov. From August 1990 to February 1991, the ''Admiral Zakharov'' performed combat service in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

region, temporarily based on

Cam Ranh Cam Ranh () is a port-city in Southern Khánh Hòa Province, in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam. History Cam Ranh, known in the ancient Ede language as Kăm Mran, is a land closely associated with the development of the Champa cult ...

. During this service the crew installed two 2M-7 type machine-gun mounts with 14.5 mm KPV machine guns on the roof of the bridge. On 17 February 1992, at 11 hours 42 minutes (local time), at the transition to

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

(in the Ussuri Bay, 7.4 kilometers from Cape Sysoev), in the aft engine room of the ''Admiral Zakharov'' there was an explosion of a gas turbine plant, which caused a volumetric fire (due to exceeding the maximum speed of the propeller (TV) turbine of the afterburner, it was destroyed and fragments scattered throughout the aft engine room. One of the fragments broke through the fuel tank (located under the engine) and the bottom of the ship allowing seawater to enter the tank which forced fuel into the aft engine room. As a result of the fire, one crew member died and five were hospitalized with various injuries and burns. The fight against the fire lasted 30 hours. Repair of the ''Admiral Zakharov'', which almost completely burned out the aft engine room, was deemed inexpedient, and the ship was written off and placed in 2nd category reserve. On 29 September 1994, she was put into dock In Vladivostok for welding to prepare her for the upcoming transfer to the military property sales department for final disposal. She was scrapped at the Chazhminsky shipyard in the early 2000s.

Gallery

File:443 "Адмирал Захаров".jpg, ''Admiral Zakharov'', date unknown. File:Admiral Zakharov 501.jpg, ''Admiral Zakharov'' in 1983. File:AdmiralZakharov1989.jpg, ''Admiral Zakharov'' underway on 7 March 1989. File:Пожар01.jpg, ''Admiral Zakharov'' on 17 February 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Admiral Zakharov 1982 ships Ships built at Yantar Shipyard Cold War destroyers of the Soviet Union Udaloy-class destroyers