Soviet Frigate Dzerzhinskiy

''Dzerzhinskiy'' (also transliterated ''Dzerzhinsky'', ) was a Project 11351 Nerey-class frigate (NATO reporting name Krivak III) of the Coast Guard of the Federal Security Service of Russia.

Design and description

''Dzerzhinskiy'' was one of nine Project 11351 ships launched between 1982 and 1992. Project 11351, the ''Nerey'' (, "Nereus") class, was the patrol version of the Project 1135 ''Burevestnik'' for the Soviet Maritime Border Troops. The ships were designated Border Patrol Ship (, PSKR) to reflect their role as patrol ships of the Border Troops. In comparison to other members of the class, Project 11351 ships has a helipad and hangar for a Kamov Ka-27PS search-and-rescue helicopter astern, in exchange to losing one 100 mm gun, one twin-arm surface-to-air missile launcher and the URPK-5 Rastrub (SS-N-14 'Silex') anti-ship missile launchers. NATO classified the vessels as 'Krivak III'-class frigates.

''Dzerzhinskiy'' was long overall, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacing standard and full load, the ship's power was provided by two DT59 and two DS71 gas turbines arranged in a COGAG installation, driving two fixed-pitch propellers. Design speed was and range at . The ship's complement was 192, including 31 officers.

Armament and sensors

''Dzerzhinskiy'' was armed with one AK-100 gun mounted forward of the bridge and two AK-630M close-in weapon system autocannons mounted on each side of the helicopter hangar. Defence against aircraft was provided by twenty 4K33 OSA-M (SA-N-4 'Gecko') surface-to-air missiles which were launched from one set of twin-arm ZIF-122 launchers, mounted aft of the fore 100 mm gun. For anti-submarine warfare, the ship are equipped with a pair of RBU-6000 ''Smerch-2'' 12-barrel anti-submarine rocket launchers and a pair of PTA-53-1135 quadruple launchers for torpedoes, consisted of either 53-65K wake homing torpedo or SET-65 anti-submarine homing torpedo. The ship can also carry 16 naval mines.

The ship sensor suites includes ''Sapfir-U7'' combat management system, one ''Vaigach-Nayada'' navigation radar, and the MP-401 ''Start'' Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system. As with other Project 11351 ships, ''Dzerzhinskiy'' was supposed to be equipped with the more advanced MR-760 ''Fregat-MA'' air/surface radar, but due to delays the ship's radar was substituted with MR-310A ''Angara-A'' instead. Fire control for the guns consisted of MR-184 ''Lev'' radar for the 100 mm gun and ''Vympel-A'' radar for the 30 mm autocannons. An extensive sonar complex was fitted, including the bow-mounted MGK-335S ''Platina-S'' and the towed-array MG-345 ''Bronza''. The vessel was also equipped with two PK-16 and two PK-10 decoy-dispenser system, which used chaff as a form of missile defense.

Construction and career

The frigate was the second ship of the class. The keel was laid on 20 January 1983 with yard number 202 at the Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch. The ship was launched on 2 March 1984. ''Dzerzhinskiy'' was commissioned to KGB Border Troops Naval Service on 29 December 1984.

The ship was assigned to the 2nd Brigade of Border Patrol Ships, 1st Red Banner Division of Border Patrol Ships in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, part of the Northeastern Border District. From 15 August to 24 September 1987, ''Dzerzhinskiy'' sailed from Sevastopol to its assigned homeport in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky via the Suez Canal. The ship officially entered service with the first ceremonial flag-hoisting ceremony on 19 May 1985.

The Order of the Red Banner honour was first awarded to a Project 19 border patrol ship of the NKVD with the same name, which received the award on 19 September 1945 for excellent performance during the Soviet–Japanese War. The award was then passed down to the second border patrol ship named ''Dzerzhinskiy'', a Project 264A minesweeper. The Project 11531 frigate ''Dzerzhinskiy'' inherited the award when she was launched, in conjunction with the decommissioning of the second ship on 2 March 1984.

''Dzerzhinskiy'' was participating in an exercise with the United States Coast Guard around the waters of Northeastern Russia on 26 May 1998, when one of the American coast guard cutters radioed its Russian counterpart that there is an intruding unidentified vessel in the area, which is inside the exclusive economic zone of Russia. ''Dzerzhinskiy'' was the closest vessel to the intruder, so the ship chased and ordered the intruder to stop. The intruder, which turned out to be a Chinese seiner (a type of fishing vessel) ''Zong Long 37'', did not yield and increased its speed. ''Dzerzhinskiy'' fired twelve warning shots at the course of ''Zong Long 37'' and when the seiner did not responded, the frigate fired and scored a direct hit. ''Zong Long 37'' suffered casualties of two dead and four wounded, with the other 22 crew not injured. The seiner was escorted to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on 27 May, with the wounded treated at regional hospital. Around 50 tonnes of salmon and caviar along with 90 kilometers of drift nets were found on board ''Zong Long 37''.

The frigate discovered an unidentified fishing vessel around from Medny Island, Komandorski Islands on 24 November 1999 at 07:00 local time. ''Dzerzhinskiy'' ordered the fishing vessel to stop, which was ignored and the chase ensued for 2 hours, which at that point the frigate fired a warning shot with its gun and ignored by the intruder. An hour later ''Dzerzhinskiy'' fired another warning shot. At around 13:00 the border guards were ordered to fire directly at the intruder using a Kalashnikov rifle with tracer rounds. The intruder, which was a 1,500 tonnes Japanese trawler ''Meise Maru 128'', stopped and was boarded by personnel from ''Dzerzhinskiy''. There were no casualties among the 27 crew members of the trawler. ''Meise Maru 128'' was brought to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on 27 November.

In June 2006, ''Dzerzhinskiy'' discovered an unidentified vessel in the Sea of Okhotsk. The frigate ordered the suspected poachers to stop to be inspected, but they evaded and started fleeing. After ''Dzerzhinskiy'' threatened to use its weapons and a Ka-27 helicopter was dispatched to search the area, the vessel stopped. The vessel's crew, turned out to be MTP ''Priozerny'' from Magadan, then started to scuttle ''Priozerny'' as the border guards approached it.

On the night of 26–27 September 2007, during the border operation "Krab-2007", a Russian border guard aircraft detected a fishing vessel in the Sea of Okhotsk with its transponder turned off, no identification marks and flag, and also did not respond to communication from the border guard. ''Dzerzhinskiy'' was sent to inspect the vessel. The fishing vessel tried to evade the border patrol ship and when ''Dzerzhinskiy'' ordered the vessel to stop, a chase ensued throughout the night. After warning shot has been fired, the unidentified vessel stopped and its crew were scuttling the fishing vessel. As ''Dzerzhinskiy'' closed in and noticed that the fishing vessel begun to list, the frigate lowered its rescue equipment. After further inspection, the fishing vessel was owned by a Sakhalin fishing company. All 17 crew members of the vessel were Russian citizen, and they were taken aboard the frigate.

As of 2022, ''Dzerzhinskiy'' was the only active vessel in the Coast Guard of Russia that was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner.

''Dzerzhinskiy'' was decommissioned on 14 April 2023. The second ship of the Project 23550 patrol ship—its replacement—was also named ''Dzerzhinskiy''.

References

Further reading

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External links

ИНЦИДЕНТ В ЯПОНСКОМ МОРЕ — Story of ''Dzerzhinskiy'' service in the Sea of Japan in 2012 by Vladimir Slabuka, 24 September 2019

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dzerzhinskiy, 1984
1984 ships
Cold War frigates of the Soviet Union
Krivak-class frigates
Krivak-class frigates of the Border Guard Service of Russia
Ships built at the Zalyv Shipbuilding yard
Ships built in the Soviet Union