The lead ship of Russian Navy’s Project 11356 frigates, Admiral Grigorovich, left its homeport in Sevastopol on Monday and headed for the Mediterranean Sea, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced.
Admiral Grigorovich is set to join a Russian Navy group that is operating in the region, the ministry added without providing details on specific tasks.
This is the frigate’s third “long voyage”, as termed by the ministry of defense, since she was commissioned into the navy on March 11, 2016.
Admiral Grigorovich already took part in Russian operations in Syria in November last year during which the ship deployed Russian-developed Kalibr cruise missiles against ISIS militants.
Admiral Grigorovich is the lead ship of the three frigates that will eventually be operated by the Russian Navy. Other two ships in the class are Admiral Essen and the yet-to-be-commissioned Admiral Makarov.
Project 11356 frigates are designed for anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare in the high seas, and anti-aircraft operations acting both independently and as an escort ship. Measuring 124,8 meters in length, the frigates displace 3620 tonnes.
Russia intended to operate six frigates in the class but was forced to remain at three units following the 2014 Ukraine crisis, as the frigate’s gas turbine engines delivered by the Ukrainian Zorya-Mashproyekt. This forced Russia to export three sanction-hit frigates to India.