Ukrainian corvette Vinnytsia

Vinnytsia (U206) is an anti-submarine corvette of the Ukrainian Navy. Prior to joining the Ukrainian Navy it was a former KGB Border Guard patrol ship named Dnepr. In March 2014, it was confiscated by Russian soldiers and became de facto under control of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The ship was handed back to Ukraine in May 2014.

History
Vinnytsia is a ship of the 1124P project (NATO reporting name: Grisha II class, Soviet classification: Albatros class Альбатрос).

The Russian type designation was Border Guard Patrol Ship, modified versions of the Small Anti-Submarine Ship.

The Grisha-class anti-submarine ship was designed to search for and destroy enemy submarines found in coastal areas. They were equipped with a variety of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapons. All were fitted with retractable fin stabilizers. Some of them — the Grisha II class — were built for the border guard.

The Grisha II-class ships were built between 1972 and 1983. These ships had a second 57 mm gun mounting replacing the SA-N-4 missile system forward.

Two ships — Dnepr and Izmail were transferred to the Ukrainian Navy.

Service
The corvette Dnepr was laid down on 23 December 1975 at the Zelenodol'sk Maxim Gorky shipyard. The ship was launched on 17 June 1976. The corvette was moved from Zelenodol'sk to Sea of Azov along the Volga and Don. The corvette was moved again, this time to Sevastopol for testing.

On 24 December 1976 an act was signed adding the ship to the Border Guard Service of USSR. The Soviet Maritime Border Guard flag was raised on the ship on 31 December 1976.

Service in the Coast Guard
The ship took part in guarding the state border, the economic zone of the USSR and fishing off the coast of the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea. The ship saw service throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s patrolling the Black Sea.

In 1977 — Dnepr was patrolled the Black Sea from Zmiinyi Island until the Strait of Kerch. In 1978, the ship was assigned to patrol from Odessa Port until the Novorossiysk Port. In 1979, her patrol area stretched from Cape Tarkhanku until the Novorossiysk Port.

In 1980, Dnepr patrolled from Cape Tarkhanku until the Ochamchira Port, and in 1981 along the southern coast of Crimea.

In June 1992, joined the Coast Guard of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

Service in the Ukrainian Navy
In late 1995 it was decided to transfer the Grisha-class vessels Dnepr and Izmail to the Naval Forces of Ukraine. The Ukrainian naval flag was raised on the ship on 19 January 1996. Dnepr was renamed Vinnytsia and reclassified to corvette.

Following her commissioning into the Ukrainian Navy, Vinnytsia participated in many joint training exercises with other nations.

In July 1996 Vinnytsia participated in the naval multinational exercise Cooperative Partner—96 off Bulgaria. In August of the same year, the corvette was a participant in the strategic exercise Sea—96, following that up with the naval multinational exercise Classic—96 off Romania.

In April 1998 the ship was among the vessels that took part in a Ukrainian-Russian naval exercise. She spend the better part of 1999 in naval exercises, the highlight being the Ukrainian-Russian naval exercise Farvater Miru—99 (Fairway peace—99) in August. In 2000, again the ship participated in naval exercises, including the multinational Cooperative Partner—2000 in June.

In 2002 Vinnytsia performed in a multitude of naval exercises including the naval multinational exercise Breeze—2002 and strategic exercise Farvater Forpost—2002. She repeated that a year later in 2003, participating in the naval multinational exercises Breeze—2003, Farvater Miru—2003, Cooperative Partner—2003, Black Sea Partner—2003 and the BLACKSEAFOR Activation.

In 2007 the corvette took part in the strategic exercise Artery—2007, Morsky vusol—2007 (Nautical knot—2007).

Captain in active (2009) Captain, 3rd rank Alexander Kostyuk.