''Neustrashimy'' (Неустрашимый, Dauntless) was a

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

built for 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 ...

in the early 1950s. She was to be the prototype for an extended production run but only one ship was built. ''Neustrashimy'' was considered too big for series production and a modified design, the was chosen for series production instead. The Soviet Designation was ''Project 41''. This was the first Soviet ship to be given a

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

being called the ''Tallinn'' class. The ship was built by Zhdanov Shipyard,

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, laid down 1950, Launched 29 January 1951, on extended trials between 28 January 1952 and commissioning on 31 January 1955. She served in 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 ...

and was decommissioned 22 February 1974.

Design

This ship was the first true post war destroyer design, the being essentially a pre-war design.

Hull

The ship had a flushed deck design which enabled it to be fully closed down for nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) warfare, with air conditioning and improved heating. Some armour () was fitted around the bridge and gun mountings. There were, however, some problems with seakeeping, particularly with the shape of the bow which led to the forward part of the ship being very wet.

Propulsion

The ship was fitted with a new high pressure steam turbine powerplant. The boilers and engine rooms were located in alternating spaces in a "unit machinery" arrangement. The boilers used forced draft to reach a pressure of . The powerplant could be fired up without pre-heating and proved 20% more economical than that of the ''Skoryy''-class ships. This basic machinery was used for most subsequent Soviet steam powered ships.

Armament

The gun armament comprised two stabilised, enclosed dual purpose mountings located in "A" and "Y" positions. Anti-aircraft artillery comprised four quad mountings with new automatic guns. Anti-submarine weapons comprised two RBU-2500 anti-submarine mortars. Two quintuple torpedo tubes and up to 50 mines were also fitted.

Sensors

* Radar ** Ryf surface search ** Neptun Navigation ** Fut air search * Sonar ** Pegas An initial combat information and control system Plashnet-41 was used.

Luda-class DDG

According to Conway's ''All the World Fighting Ships 1947-1995'' 2nd edition, the ''Neustrashimy'' design was sold to China and became the basis for their Luda-class DDG. However, due to the external resemblance between the Luda and the Kotlin classes, many analysts today claim that the Luda class is based on the Kotlin.

References

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External links

Site in Russian Language
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neustrashimy, Soviet destroyer Destroyer classes Destroyers of the Soviet Navy Cold War destroyers of the Soviet Union 1951 ships Ships built at Severnaya Verf