Smetlivy (destroyer)

Smetlivy (Сметливый - "Resourceful") is a Kashin-class guided missile destroyer of the Russian Navy.

Ordered by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, Smetlivy was laid down in July 1966 and commissioned into the Soviet Black Sea Fleet in 1969. In 1990 the ship was laid up for repairs and modification. She became part of the Russian Navy after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The ship returned to service in 1995, now armed with the more modern SS-N-25 Switchblade missile system. In August 2008 the ship took part in the Russo-Georgian war, and was part of task force from a Black Sea Fleet enforcing "de facto" blockade of the Republic of Georgia. In 2009 the ship was again laid up for repairs, returning to service in mid-2011 and being involved in Russian-Italian naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea. As of 2013 the Smetlivy is the last Kashin-class destroyer in service with the Russian Navy.

In 2013, she was sent off the coast of Syria in response to military tensions and a build up of Western naval forces.