Neustrashimyy-class frigate

Neustrashimy class frigates (Неустрашимый, alternate English spelling Neustrashimyy) are the most modern large frigates in the Russian Navy. The Soviet designation is Project 1154 Yastreb ("Hawk").

Design
The class was designed as a general purpose anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigate to follow on from the Krivak class frigates. This new class of frigates incorporates some stealth technology. The ship is equipped with a newly designed Zvezda-1 integrated sonar system (with NATO reporting name Ox Tail) as its primary ASW sensor.

The program started in 1986 and seven ships were originally planned. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the project was frozen and only one ship, the Neustrashimy (Неустрашимый - "Fearless"), was in active service with the Russian Baltic Fleet by the mid 1990s. On February 24, 2009 the second ship in the class, the Yaroslav Mudry, left the Yantar shipyard in Russia's Kaliningrad for its first sea-trials. As of 2010, both the Neustrashimyy and the Yaroslav Mudryy are operational with the Baltic Fleet.

Program
The ships were built by Yantar Yard, Kaliningrad. Only the Neustrashimy was completed by the time the Soviet Union collapsed. Two further ships were incomplete. Yaroslav Mudry (named after the great ruler of the Kievan Rus, Yaroslav the Wise) and Tuman ("Fog", named after a World War II era Soviet patrol boat whose crew exhibited great valour in combat with three German destroyers). As of February, 2009, the frigate Yaroslav Mudry has begun sea trials and entered service in April, 2009.

2008-09 deployment to Somalia
In late September 2008, the Neustrashimy left the Baltic Fleet and was sent to the Gulf of Aden waters off the Somali coast to fight piracy in the region. Russian navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo told the Associated Press that the missile frigate Neustrashimy had left the Baltic Sea port of Baltiisk a day before the hijacking to cooperate with other unspecified countries in anti-piracy efforts. As of October 27, it was operating independently in the vicinity of a group of NATO warships near the Somali coast. On November 11, it helped capture suspected pirates along with the Royal Marines of HMS Cumberland; the suspected pirates had been attempting to board the MV Powerful. On November 16, 2008, it prevented pirates from capturing Saudi Arabian ship MV Rabih.

Ships in service

 * 712 - Neustrashimyy (1993) - Operational in Baltic Fleet, will be transferred to Black Sea Fleet.


 * 727 - Yaroslav Mudryy (2009) - Commissioned June 21, 2009.; Operational in Baltic Fleet, will be transferred to Black Sea Fleet.

Building

 * Tuman - The work on the ship was suspended when about 30% complete in 1996 and was laid up in 1998 only to clear space in dry dock. May be finished and sold for export.