Name Kashin class Succeeded by Sovremennyy class | Preceded by Kanin class Subclasses Rajput class | |
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Builders 61 Kommunara Zavod Nikolayev Yard, Zhdanov yard, Leningrad Operators Soviet Navy / Russian Navy
Polish Navy
Indian Navy | ||
The Kashin-class destroyers were a group of guided missile destroyers built for the Soviet Navy in the 1960s and early 1970s. Their Soviet designation was Project 61. As of 2016, one ship is in service with the Russian Navy, and five modified ships are in service with the Indian Navy as Rajput-class destroyers.
Contents
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 ships and the first to carry an ASW helicopter.
Design
The design specification was approved in 1957; the first ship was laid down in 1959 and commissioned in 1962. Much new equipment was developed for these ships, including surface-to-air missiles, radars and gas turbine 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.
Six ships were modernised in the 1970s as the Project 61M or 61MP (Kashin-Mod), by being fitted with four SS-N-2C Styx anti-ship missiles, new towed-array sonar, a raised helipad and four close range AK-630 Gatling guns. The two RBU-1000 ASW rocket launchers were mounted aft, but later removed.
Smetlivy was modernised (mk01090) at Sevastopol in the early 1990s and fitted with new Kh-35 (SS-N-25 Switchblade, Harpoonski) anti-ship missiles and MNK-300 sonar. She is the only Kashin-class vessel currently active in the Russian Navy.
The Rajput-class modification built for Indian Navy has the after gun turret replaced by a hangar for a helicopter, as well as SS-N-2C anti-ship missiles on the sides of the bridge.
Ships
In all, twenty ships were built for the Soviet Navy, one ship (ORP Warszawa) was later transferred to Poland, while five similar ships were built to a modified design for the Indian Navy as the Rajput class.