The Ugra class was the

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

for a group of seven

submarine tender A submarine tender, in British English a submarine depot ship, is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally cannot carry large amounts of foo ...

s built for the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

in the late 1960s. The Soviet designation was Project 1886. One further ship was built for the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

to a modified design. The ships were intended to provide afloat support for Soviet submarines, including supplies, water,

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es, fuel, and battery charging; minimal repair facilities, and were often employed as

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

s/command ships for submarine squadrons. A subclass, the ''Borodino'' class, of two ships were constructed for use as

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...

s and lacked missiles and the ability to support submarines. Instead, the ''Borodino'' class had classrooms and training facilities.

Design and description

The Ugra class were

s of the

designed to support eight to twelve

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s at sea, providing them with supplies, fresh water, fuel,

es and repair services. They were improved versions of the preceding . The class, named Project 1886 by the Soviets, designated the type of ship as meaning "Floating Base". The Ugra class had extensive command and control facilities for fleet/task force commanders and were often used as

s. Submarine tenders of the Ugra class measured long overall with a beam of and a draught of . They had a

standard displacement The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...

of and displaced at

full load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...

. On most of the vessels, the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

stretched aft to the

funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...

, which was larger than that found on the Don class and the Ugra class also had a shorter funnel. Along the

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

, the ships had mooring points every and baggage ports for loading and unloading coastal craft and submarines. All of the ships had one 10-tonne capable crane and two 5-ton capable cranes. Within the ships were workshops capable of providing repair services. The vessels were powered by a diesel-electric system composed of four Kolomna 2D 42

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s and two electric motors turning two

shafts ''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection ...

, creating . This gave the submarine tenders a maximum speed of and a range of at . They had a complement of 450 officers and ratings. The Ugra class were armed with two quad launchers for sixteen

9K32 Strela-2 The 9K32 Strela-2 (; NATO reporting name SA-7 Grail) is a light-weight, shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missile or MANPADS system. It is designed to target aircraft at low altitudes with passive infrared homing, infrared-homing guidance and dest ...

(

: SA-N-5 "Grail")

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

s and four twin-mounted /80

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

s. The ships mounted two " Muff Cob"

fire control radar A fire-control radar (FCR) is a radar that is designed specifically to provide information (mainly target azimuth, elevation, range and range rate) to a fire-control system in order to direct weapons such that they hit a target. They are sometim ...

s, one " Strut Curve" air/surface search radar and between one and three "Don-2 navigational radar. They were also equipped with four "Watch Dog" electronic warfare/jamming radar, two "Square Head" and one "High Pole B"

identification friend or foe Identification, friend or foe (IFF) is a combat identification system designed for command and control. It uses a transponder that listens for an ''interrogation'' signal and then sends a ''response'' that identifies the broadcaster. IFF syst ...

antenna. Two ships, ''Ivan Kucherenko'' and ''Volga'', were equipped with

lattice mast Lattice masts, or cage masts, or basket masts, are a type of observation mast common on United States Navy major warships in the early 20th century. They are a type of hyperboloid structure, whose weight-saving design was invented by the Russia ...

s for "Vee Cone" HF communications antenna. All of the ships had a small

helicopter pad A helipad is the landing area of a heliport, in use by helicopters, powered lift, and VTOL, vertical lift aircraft to land on surface. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a ...

aft but only ''Ivan Kolyshkin'' had a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

installed capable of supporting a Kamov Ka-25 "Hormone-C" helicopter.

Ships

Seven ships were built for the Soviet Navy in Nikolayev.

Service history

The last two Russian Navy ships ''Vladimir Yegorov'' and ''Volga'' were scrapped in the late 1990s.

Export

One ship of the class was constructed for the

. The ship was identical to the Soviet vessels except for armament and radars. Named , the ship was commissioned on 28 December 1968 and given the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

A 54. ''Amba'' was armed with two anti-aircraft guns and equipped with one "Slim Net", two "Hawk Screech" and one "Don-2" radars. ''Amba'' was decommissioned in 2006.

''Borodino''-class training ships

Two ships were completed to a modified (Project 1886U, Russian: ''1886У'') design as

s. Designated meaning "training ship", they were named ''Borodino'' and ''Gangut''. Instead of workshops and storerooms they had increased accommodation and training facilities. They lacked the missile air defence and no helicopter facilities but had an enlarged aft deckhouse that incorporated a navigation training space with additional navigator training positions. Both underwent a refit in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in 1989. They were scrapped in the late 1990s.

Notes

Citations

References

* * *

External links

Photos of Ugra class

{{Soviet and Russian ships after 1945 Ugra-class submarine tenders Auxiliary depot ship classes