''Smetlivy'' (russian: Сметливый, italic=yes, lit=Resourceful) was a

guided missile destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers who have a prim ...

of the Russian Navy. Entering service in 1969, the ship served until 1991 with the fall of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. She returned to service in 1995 after a refit and was made part of the

Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...

. As of 2011-2020 she was the oldest active destroyer in the world. The ship was decommissioned in 2020 to become a museum ship.

Service history

Ordered by the

in the early 1960s, ''Smetlivy'' was laid down in July 1966 and commissioned into the Soviet

Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...

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 The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

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 The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Sou ...

, 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 The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

. As of 2013 ''Smetlivy'' is the last Kashin-class destroyer in service with the Russian Navy. In 2013, she was sent off the coast of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in response to military tensions and a buildup of Western naval forces. ''Smetlivy'' returned to Syria in September 2015. During the Syrian deployment, ''Smetlivy'' fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing vessel on 13 December 2015 after the Turkish ship reportedly did not respond to radio calls or signal flares to turn away from the destroyer. The Turkish fishing vessel ''Geçiciler-1'' in its own accord has reported to the Turkish Coast Guard that no shots were detected from ''Smetlivy'' and that they passed the static Russian ship from a mile distance and continued with their fishing undisturbed. Video material from ''Geçiciler-1'' has been handed over to the Turkish Coast Guard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smetlivy (1967) Kashin-class destroyers Destroyers of the Russian Navy Cold War destroyers of the Soviet Union Ships built in the Soviet Union 1967 ships Museum ships in Russia