''Mitrofan Moskalenko'' () 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 ...

and part of the

Northern Fleet The Northern Fleet (, ''Severnyy flot'') is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Arctic. According to the Russian ministry of defence: "The Northern Fleet dates its history back to a squadron created in 1733 to protect the terri ...

. Named after 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 ...

officer

Mitrofan Moskalenko Mitrofan Ivanovich Moskalenko (; 5 August 1896 – 4 November 1966) was an officer of the Soviet Navy. He worked in the navy's coastal defence branch and reached the rank of Colonel General. Born in 1896, Moskalenko was called up for service in ...

, the ship was built in

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 ...

and launched in 1988. She was decommissioned in 2006 and has been put up for scrapping.

Construction and commissioning

''Mitrofan Moskalenko'' was built 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 ...

, in

. She was laid down in May 1984, and launched in 1988. She was commissioned into the

on 23 September 1990 as part of its

homeport A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull. In the cruise industry the term "home port" is also oft ...

ed in

Severomorsk Severomorsk (), known as Vayenga () until 18 April 1951, is a closed city, closed types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. Severomorsk is the main administrative base of the Russian Northern Fleet. The town is sit ...

, and with 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 late December 1991, she went on to serve in the Russian Navy.

Career

''Mitrofan Moskalenko'' was one of a three ship class, designated by the Russians as Project 1174 (). The ships were classified as BDK () for . ''Mitrofan Moskalenko'' was the only ship of her class to be assigned to the Northern Fleet, her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

s ''Ivan Rogov'' and ''Aleksandr Nikolayev'' were both assigned to the Pacific Fleet. On completion at Kaliningrad, she sailed to Severomorsk and became the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

of the Northern Fleet's 37th Landing Ship Division. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the withdrawal of naval forces and equipment from Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics, ''Mitrofan Moskalenko'' made five voyages in 1991 and 1992, transporting useful military cargo from the reduced Baltic Fleet, bringing it for use with the Northern Fleet. In 1994, she became part of the Atlantic Surface Ship Squadron, and in July 2001, was assigned to the Kola Flotilla.

Decommissioning and scrapping

''Mitrofan Moskalenko'' was reduced to the reserve in 2002, and decommissioned on 18 December 2006. Her sister ''Aleksandr Nikolayev'' was decommissioned on the same day, while her other sister, ''Ivan Rogov'', had been decommissioned on 4 August 1995. ''Mitrofan Moskalenko'' was put up for sale in 2008, and after a reassessment in 2012, which found that modernizing her would cost as much as a new ship, tenders were again invited. By 2013, she was still at Severomorsk. Russia had by this point ordered two ''Mistral''-class

landing helicopter dock A landing helicopter dock (LHD) is a multipurpose amphibious assault ship that is capable of operating as a helicopter carrier and also has a well deck for supporting landing crafts. LHD vessels are built with a full flight deck similar in ...

s from France to supplement their amphibious warfare capabilities, but with the outbreak of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

in 2014, delivery of the ships was suspended, and then abandoned. Naval planners briefly considered reactivating the mothballed ''Mitrofan Moskalenko'' and ''Aleksandr Nikolayev'' instead. She was again put up for sale for scrapping in May 2014. Reports suggested that she left Severmorsk for Murmansk on 8 May 2019 to be scrapped at the 35th Ship Repair Plant. Ukrainian sources reported that she caught fire while docked on 27 May 2019. Further reports in November 2019 recorded that she had arrived at Shipyard Number 10 in Polyarny to be scrapped by a private company. She caught fire while docked at the yard on 8 December 2020. On 20 July 2020, a new ''Mitrofan Moskalenko'', one of the Project 23900 amphibious assault ships, was laid down at the Zaliv Shipbuilding Yard in

Kerch Kerch, also known as Keriç or Kerich, is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of Crimea. It has a population of Founded 2,600 years ago as the Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies, ancient Greek colony Pantik ...

, on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitrofan Moskalenko Ivan Rogov-class landing ships 1988 ships Ships built at Yantar Shipyard Amphibious warfare vessels of the Soviet Navy Amphibious warfare vessels of the Russian Navy