The Stenka class is the

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 ...

for a class of

patrol boat 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 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 ...

, KGB Border Troops and Soviet Allies. The Soviet designation was Project 205P ''Tarantul'' (not to be confused with the ). The boats are an

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapon ...

patrol version of the .

Design

The Stenka class (Project 205P) is a variant of the (Project 205). The Stenkas used the

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

of the Osa class and had a slightly larger crew. The development office of the Almaz Shipyard in

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 ...

used the standardized components of the Osa class, in order to develop an

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

(ASW) boat. The

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM or ASM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. ...

launch containers were replaced by four

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s but the anti-ship missile related structures and equipment were retained. The living spaces in the Stenkas were improved for long patrol endurance by raising the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

in order to create more usable space inside, compared to the Osa class. They also installed a more powerful air conditioner. The drive system is three

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...

s of the Zvezda M503 or M504 series with a total capacity of or .

Armament

The primary

anti-submarine weapon An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapon ...

for destroying submarines were SET-40

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es. The boats have four torpedo tubes installed on the deck in the aft part of the boats, two on the port side and two on starboard side. Behind the torpedo tubes on the aft deck, in the port and starboard sides, are each one depth charge rack. Twelve

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

s, six for each rack can be carried. As the Osa-class boats (Project 205), the Stenka-class boats (Project 205P) has two radar-controlled 30 mm AK-230 guns in twin mounts, one in the bow, the other at the rear. One of the boats was tested with a 57 mm AK-725 gun on the bow and received a modified project number – 205PE.

Sensors

The 4Ts-30-125 or later MR-220 (

"Peel Cone") radar is a shipboard

air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

and

surface A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...

search radar mounted on the mast with two antennas for the friend or foe identification system ("High Pole B"). The MR-104 ("Drum Tilt")

fire-control radar A fire-control radar (FCR) is a radar that is designed specifically to provide information (mainly target azimuth, elevation, range and range rate) to a fire-control system in order to direct weapons such that they hit a target. They are someti ...

is mounted on the rear of the superstructure for directing the fire of the two AK-230 guns. The MG-345 ''Bronza'' submarine search system on the ships consists of the MG-329 ''Sheksna''

dipping sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

with the MG-11 ''Tamir-11'' sonar sensor mounted in the hull.

Ships

Soviet Union and post-Soviet states

A total of boats were built between 1967 and 1989. Most of them were operated by the KGB Maritime Border Guard. The

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

classified the boats of their border troops as "border patrol ships" (, an initialism for ) and the four boats in the Navy as gunboats (). A similar allocation of boats for submarine patrol are assigned into the border guards, which is rather unusual in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

countries, and so the Project 205P patrol boat identification is used. Anapa Project 205-P Tarantul patrol boat IMG 1513

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 ...

– 1 boat was used until 2001 (subsequently, survivors were operated by the Russian Coast Guard until 2017).. * Azerbaijan Navy – 5 boats. *

Ukrainian Navy The Ukrainian Navy (), is the Navy, maritime force of Ukraine and one of the eight Military branch, service branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The naval forces consist of five components: surface forces, submarine forces, Ukrainian Naval ...

– 10? boats (may be operated by the

Ukrainian Sea Guard The Ukrainian Sea Guard (, ; fully titled – , ) is the coast guard service of Ukraine, subordinated to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, State Border Guard Service. History The creation of the Sea Guard began simultaneously wi ...

). *

Georgian Navy The Georgian Coast Guard ( ka, საქართველოს სანაპირო დაცვა) is the maritime arm of the Border Police of Georgia, Georgian Border Police, within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. It is respo ...

– 2 boats (1 – ''Batumi'' was scrapped in 2006, another – ''Giorgi Toreli'' sunk in the

Battle off the coast of Abkhazia The Battle off the coast of Abkhazia was a supposed naval engagement between warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Georgian patrol boats during the Russo-Georgian War. The engagement On 10 August 2008, RIA Novosti – quoting a source i ...

Export

The Project 02059 gunboats are an export version of the Stenka-class patrol boat. *

Cuban Navy The Cuban Revolutionary Navy () is the navy of Cuba. History The Constitutional Navy of Cuba was the navy of Cuba that existed prior to 1959. During World War II, it sank the German submarine U-176, German submarine ''U-176'' on 15 May 1943. ...

– 4 boats exported in 1985. *

Royal Cambodian Navy The Royal Cambodian Navy - RCN (; ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and one of the three uniformed services of the Kingdom of Cambodia. It has an estimated of 4,000 active personnel and operates rough ...

(formerly the Kampuchean Navy) – 5 boats transferred 1985–1987. Rearmed with twin Bofors 40 mm L/60 guns forward and

ZU-23-2 The ZU-23-2, also known as ZU-23, is a Soviet towed 23×152mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon. ZU stands for ''Zenitnaya Ustanovka'' (Russian: Зенитная Установка) – anti-aircraft mount. The GRAU index is 2A13. Develo ...

aft, replacing the AK-230 turrets. Torpedo tubes removed.

Notes

References

External links

Maritime Units of the Russian Border Guard Forces

{{Soviet and Russian ships after 1945 Patrol vessels of the Soviet Navy Patrol boat classes Patrol vessels of Russia