Ukraine’s Naval Forces have created a surface forces division in the Azov Sea, Naval Forces Comander Ihor Voronchenko has said.
During the celebrations marking the naming of the next small armored gun boats (SAGB) for the Navy in Odesa, Voronchenko announced that the ports of Berdiansk and Mariupol will become the base points of the new division.
According to the commander of the Navy, until the formation of the division, the existing surface forces operated as part of the Triton tactical group, which was formed with the transfer of two SAGBs, the transfer of the search and rescue vessel Donbas and the sea tug Korets to the Sea of Azov. Also, the tactical group was supposed to include two SAGBs, the Berdiansk and Nikopol, as well as the raid tug Yany Kapu, which were captured by Russia together with the crews on November 25, 2018 and returned on November 20, 2019 in an incapacitated state.
Currently, the division includes: search and rescue vessel Donbas (A500), sea tug Korets (A830), SAGB Lubny and SAGB Kremenchug. It is expected that in the future the combat and numerical strength of the division will increase due to the introduction of new combat units.
At the same time, as the press center of the Navy Command reports, the next Gyurza-M class SAGB (Project 58155) built by order of the Naval Forces was named Kostopol.
“In the near future, SAGB Kostopol is waiting for a series of state tests and according to the results, it will be included in the Naval Forces , where the boat will begin its combat path in protecting the independence and territorial integrity of the state,” the Naval Forces said on Facebook.
This is the seventh hull from the series of boats of Project 58155 built at PJSC Kuznia na Rybalskomu factory in Kyiv.
SAGB Project 58155 Gyurza-M was designed by state enterprise Mykolaiv Research and Design Center for Shipbuilding and has been serially produced since 2012 and supplied to the Navy from the end of 2015.
SAGB class Gyurza-M is intended, inter alia, for the protection and defense of ports and sea or river communications within the territorial sea waters, strengthening the protection of the state border, participation in diverse operations of Ukraine’s State Border Service in the waters of the Black Sea-Azov basin. The boat has a displacement of 51.1 tonnes, cruising speed of 25 knots, a crew of five people, and a range of autonomous navigation of 900 miles. The SAGB’s armament includes a cannon, a machine gun and missile systems.
The strategy of Ukraine’s Naval Forces through 2035 provides for the replenishment of the Ukrainian fleet, including about 20 SAGB class Gyurza-M ships, which comply with European and NATO standards.
