Yuri Olefirenko (U401)

Yuri Olefirenko (Юрій Олефіренко) is a mid-size landing ship of the Ukrainian Navy of Project 773 (NATO code Polnocny-C). From its original commissioning in 1971 and until the 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, she was based in the Southern Naval Base at Donuzlav. Since then Yuri Olefirenko was relocated to Ochakiv.

It was built at Stocznia Północna shipyard in Gdansk, Poland in 1970 for the Soviet Navy and was numbered "SDK-137". SDK is a Russian abbreviation for a mid-size landing ship (средний десантный корабль, Sredniy Desantnyi Korabl, SDK).

Although officially the Soviet Union was not involved in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, SDK 137 as part of the Soviet Mediterranean squadron was in the area along with a marine infantry detachment loaded. The ships enlisted starshina 1st stage P.Grinev downed one of the Israeli F-4 Phantom planes out the ship's artillery system AK-230 and was awarded for that the Order of Red Star.

As a result of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet division between Russian Black Sea Fleet and Ukrainian Navy, in 1994 "SDK 137" was passed to Ukrainian Navy and was renamed to SKD Kirovohrad. In 1996 it was commissioned and given a number U-401 Kirovohrad.

In 1998-2002 U401 was repaired at the Metallist Shiprepair Factory in Balaklava and once again in 2012-2013 at the Black Sea Shipyard in Mykolaiv.

At the start of the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, on 21 March 2014 Kirovohrad was taken over by unmarked Russian naval personnel at the Donuzlav lake along with some other ships of Ukrainian Navy. On 19 April 2014 the Russian military allowed the ship to return along with the Ukrainian corvette Vinnytsia.

In 2016 it was renamed again to U-401 Yuri Olefirenko in a memory of Ukrainian marine who perished during the War in Donbass.