''Kherson'' (U210) was a Grisha I-class

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 ...

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

of the

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 ...

. Prior to joining the Ukrainian Navy she was a former

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 ...

corvette named ''MPK-52''.

Development and design

The 1124P project corvette (

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 ...

: Grisha I class, Soviet classification: ''MPK-147'' class ) were intended to counter enemy

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s in nearby area of naval bases, ports and scattered berths, on the deployment of naval forces to carry out anti-submarine surveillance and protection of ships and vessels at sea. Project 1124 of the first series were armed with SAM

Osa-M The 9K33 ''Osa'' (; English: "wasp"; NATO reporting name SA-8 ''Gecko'') is a highly mobile, low-altitude, short-range tactical surface-to-air missile system developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and fielded in 1972. Its export version nam ...

in the

bow BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and Winn ...

of 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 ...

. One twin AK-725 gun was located in the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

. Control of firing AK-725 was carried out by the MR-103 Leopard radar with a maximum detection range of 40 km, which was also located on the stern

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 ...

. The MR-302 Rubka radar was installed as a radar for detecting air and surface targets on the ship's

mast Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to: Engineering * Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship * Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag * Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires * Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship * Radio mas ...

. The basis of the

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 o ...

consisted of submersible GAS MG-322 Argun (operated in echo direction-finding mode) and lowered GAS MG-339 Shelon in the stern superstructure, which operated only in the "stop" mode. The basis of

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 ...

s were located two twin

torpedo tubes 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 ...

for DTA-5E-1124 and two

RBU-6000 The RBU-6000 Smerch-2 (Реактивно-Бомбовая Установка, ''Reaktivno-Bombovaja Ustanovka''; rocket-bomb installation & Смерч; waterspout) is a 213 mm caliber Soviet anti-submarine rocket launcher. The system enter ...

on the bow of the ship's superstructure. Construction of small anti-submarine ships on Project 1124 began in 1967 at the

Zelenodolsk Shipyard JSC Zelenodolsk Shipyard is a shipbuilding company based in Zelenodolsk, Tatarstan, Russia. It is part of the Ak Bars Holding. History Zelenodolsk Plant became an important military shipbuilder when equipment was evacuated there from the western ...

. A total of twelve ships of this project were built, after which they were replaced by the corvettes of Project 1124 of the second series (''Grisha-III'' according to NATO reporting name).

Construction and career

The corvette ''MPK-52'' 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 30 October 1968 at the

Kuznya na Rybalskomu Kuznia na Rybalskomu () is a ship building and armament company in Kyiv, Ukraine. Situated on the Dnieper River and presently concentrating on river ships, the company is also able to produce and repair small sea vessels (both civil and naval), a ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. The ship was launched on 30 May 1971. The corvette was commissioned on 31 December 1971. ''MPK-52'' was a member of the 400th division of anti-submarine ships of the 68th brigade of ships of the

Black Sea Fleet The Black Sea Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea Fleet, along with other Russian ground and air forces on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, are subordin ...

, which took an active part in training and combat activities of the fleet. Navy of the

USSR 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 ...

for anti-submarine training. On 13 March 1987, as a result of a three-day search of the CPUG (''MPK-52'', and ), the ''MPK-52'' discovered an underwater target at a distance of . As a result of almost a day of persecution, the Turkish submarine was forced to enter the territorial waters of Turkey and ascend. During the division of the Black Sea Fleet of the USSR, the ship was intended to be handed over to the Ukrainian Navy, which was why it was stolen in a short period of time. Despite the unsatisfactory technical condition, on 1 August 1997, the ship was handed over to the Ukrainian Navy. Few years later due to lack of funds for repairs, the corvette could not be put in service. On 8 September 1999, ''MPK-52'' was expelled from the Ukrainian Navy and disposed of.

Pennant numbers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kherson, Ukrainian corvette Grisha-class corvettes

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

1971 ships Kherson Ships built in the Soviet Union