The Kashin class, Soviet designation Project 61, were series of anti-aircraft

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 ...

s built for the Soviet Navy since the 1960s. , no ships remain in service with the Russian Navy, but three modified ships continue in service with the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

as s. In the Soviet Union they were officially classified as "guard ships" (''storozhevoi korabl'' – SKR), then "large ASW ships" (BPK) or "large missile ships" (BRK), but in the rest of world they are commonly regarded as missile destroyers due to their size and armament. They were the first Soviet purpose-built

anti-air warfare Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

ships and the first to carry an ASW helicopter.

Design

49KashinClassDestroyerMediterraneanJan1970

The design specification was approved in 1957; the first ship was laid down in 1959 and commissioned in 1962. Many new components were developed for these ships, including surface-to-air missiles,

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

s, and

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

engines. The gas turbines were arranged in two separate spaces and could be removed via the funnels for servicing. These were also the first Soviet ships designed to be closed down for nuclear fallout and had an operations room deep inside the ship rather than a large bridge. The final ship in the class, Sderzhanyy, was completed to a modified design as the Project 61M or 61MP ( Kashin-Mod), being fitted with four

SS-N-2 The P-15 ''Termit'' (russian: П-15 "Термит"; en, termite) is an anti-ship missile developed by the Soviet Union's Raduga design bureau in the 1950s. Its GRAU designation was 4K40, its NATO reporting name was ''Styx'' or SS-N-2. China ...

C Styx anti-ship missiles, new towed-array

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

, a raised helipad and four close range

AK-630 The AK-630 is a Soviet and Russian fully automatic naval, rotary cannon, close-in weapon system. The "630" designation refers to the weapon's six gun barrels and their 30 mm caliber. The system is mounted in an enclosed automatic turret and dir ...

Gatling guns. The two

RBU-1000 The RBU-1000 Smerch-3 is a 300 mm caliber Russian anti-submarine and anti-torpedo rocket launcher. It entered service around 1962–1963. It is similar in operation to the Hedgehog system used during the Second World War. The RBU-1000 is remot ...

ASW rocket launchers were mounted aft, but later removed. Six ships were modernised to this standard in the 1970s. was modernised (Project 01090) at

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

in the early 1990s and fitted with new

Kh-35 The Zvezda Kh-35 (russian: Х-35 , AS-20 'Kayak') is a Soviet turbojet subsonic cruise anti-ship missile. The missile can be launched from helicopters, surface ships and coastal defence batteries with the help of a rocket booster, in which c ...

(SS-N-25 Switchblade, ''Harpoonski'') anti-ship missiles and MNK-300 sonar. In 2020 she decommissioned and opened as a Museum at

. The modification built for the Indian Navy has the aft gun turret replaced by a hangar for a helicopter, as well as SS-N-2C anti-ship missiles on the sides of the bridge.

Variants

* Project 61 (Kashin class): Original design (19 ships). * Project 61MP ( Modified Kashin class): Modernization of the Project 61 vessels (5 ships). * Project 61M (Modified Kashin class): Upgraded design (1 ship). * Project 61E (): Export version, used by the

(5 ships).

Ships

In all, twenty ships were built for the Soviet Navy, one ship () was later transferred to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, while five similar ships were built to a modified design for the

as ''Rajput'' class. File:Strogiy.jpg, ''Strogy'' in October 1985. File:SA-N-1 launcher.jpg, The bow of ''Strogy'' after a collision File:Warszawa II TW 6-91.jpg, ORP ''Warszawa'' File:INS Ranvijay Malabar 07.jpg, INS ''Ranvijay''

References

Notes

Sources

* * V.V. Kostrichenko, A.A Prostokishin (В.В.Костриченко, А.А.Простокишин): ''"Poyushchiye fryegaty". Bolshiye protivolodochniye korabli proyekta 61'' (''«Поющие фрегаты» Большие противолодочные корабли проекта 61''), Morskaya Kollektsya 1/1999

External links

– article in Russian language, Russian
– article in English from the Federation of American Scientists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kashin-class destroyer Destroyer classes Ships of the Russian Navy Ships of the Soviet Navy