Russian landing ship Nikolai Vilkov
Russian Navy landing ship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nikolai Vilkov (Russian: Николай Вилков) is a Tapir-class landing ship of the Russian Navy and part of the Pacific Fleet.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Russia | |
| Name | Nikolai Vilkov |
| Namesake | Nikolai Vilkov |
| Builder | Yantar Shipyard, Kaliningrad |
| Yard number | 303 |
| Laid down | 3 September 1971 |
| Launched | 30 November 1973 |
| Commissioned | 30 July 1974 |
| Home port | Vladivostok |
| Identification | Hull number
|
| Status | In service |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Tapir-class landing ship |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 112.8–113.1 m (370 ft 1 in – 371 ft 1 in) |
| Beam | 15.3–15.6 m (50 ft 2 in – 51 ft 2 in) |
| Draft | 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) |
| Installed power | 9,000 bhp (6,700 kW) |
| Propulsion | 2 diesels, 2 shafts |
| Speed | 16–18 knots (30–33 km/h) |
| Capacity | 1,000 tons |
| Troops | 300–425 troops and 20 tanks, or 40 AFVs, or 1,000 tons |
| Crew | 55 |
| Armament | |
Named after petty officer first class Nikolai Vilkov, a posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union killed in action during the Second World War, the ship was built in Kaliningrad. She is classified as a BDK (Russian: БДК) for Russian: Большой десантный корабль, romanized: Bolshoy desantnyi korabl', lit. 'large landing ship'. She is one of the Tapir class designated Project 1171/IV by the Russian Navy, with the NATO reporting name Alligator.
Construction and commissioning
Nikolai Vilkov was built by Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad, being laid down on 3 September 1971 and launched on 30 November 1973.[2] She was commissioned into the Soviet Navy on 30 July 1974 as part of its Pacific Fleet. She was named in honour of petty officer first class Nikolai Vilkov, a posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union killed in action at the Battle of Shumshu during the Second World War.[3] She was homeported in Vladivostok Naval Base, and with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late December 1991, she went on to serve in the Russian Navy.[4]
Career
Nikolai Vilkov was several times deployed with fleet units on long-distance voyages, carrying out seven missions to the Indian Ocean and visiting Ethiopia, the Persian Gulf, Vietnam, and Okinawa.[3] She was at Aden during the South Yemen civil war, when she was fired upon, necessitating the deployment of tanks.[3] She was again attacked, this time by pirates, while sailing in the South China Sea at night, having been mistaken for a civilian cargo ship. She returned fire, driving the pirates off.[3] She took part in joint US-UK-French naval exercises in the Persian Gulf in January 1994, and in autumn that year delivered relief supplies to the South Kuril Islands after the 1994 Kuril Islands earthquake.[4] In 2014, she was one of the ships at the Navy Day naval parade in Vladivostok.[4]
In August 2018, she and the Ropucha-class landing ship Peresvet carried out exercises in Desantnaya Bay, loading and unloading BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery units, and a marine battalion. The landing ships were part of exercises involving six warships and 300 marines.[5] She carried out further exercises in October that year with Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoy.[6] In March 2019, she carried out gunnery and landing exercises.[7] Further exercises were held in March 2020, with the Ropucha-class landing ship Oslyabya, and then again in June with Oslyabya, Admiral Nevelskoy, Peresvet in Providence Bay, supported by the hydrographic ship Sever and the ocean-going tug MB-61.[8][9]
In mid-2020, Nikolai Vilkov deployed on a five-month training voyage from Vladivostok with three other large landing ships, Admiral Nevelskoy, Oslyabya, and Peresvet. The ships travelled more than 23 thousand nautical miles over 158 days, carrying out a number of exercises, before returning to Vladivostok on 12 November 2020.[10] In May 2024 she deployed with Oslyabya and Peresvet in Desantnaya Bay near Vladivostok to practice loading and unloading BTR-82A armoured personnel carriers and BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles. Some 300 servicemen and 30 vehicles were involved.[11] She carried out more gunnery exercises with Admiral Nevelskoy in November 2021, and with Admiral Nevelskoy and Oslyabya in March 2022.[12][13] There were further exercises in January and March 2023, and in August she led a detachment of vessels to Zarubino, Primorsky Krai to evacuate holidaymakers from Khasansky District who had been cut off by heavy rains.[14] Together with the hydrographic vessel GS-84, the fire boat PZhK-1514, the diving support boat VM-20 and the harbour tug RB-404, 1,074 people and 34 cars were evacuated from the port of Zarubino and transported to Vladivostok.[15] Nikolai Vilkov returned to exercises throughout the early part of 2024, and again in November that year.[16][17]