The Russian Navy commissioned its first Project 20385 corvette Gremyashchy on December 30, a little over a year after the ship embarked on sea trials last year.
Gremyashchy is the first of the improved Steregushchy-class (Project 20380) multi-purpose corvettes and was built at the Severnaya Verf in St. Petersburg.
One of the main improvements that the new corvettes are receiving is the new UKSK vertical launch system that is replacing the Redut air-defense system, a navalized version of the S-350 system. UKSK will allow the corvettes to deploy a greater range of vertically-launched missiles, including the 3M22 Tsirkon scramjet powered anti-ship missile. According to earlier reports, Gremyashchy is also the first Pacific Fleet equipped with the Kalibr cruise missiles.
Severnaya Verf started construction of Gremyashchy in May 2011 and the keel-laying ceremony was held in February 2012.
The ship received Russian-built turbine engines in 2016 which were delivered after sanctions on Russia prevented German company MTU from delivering the original engines.
Project 20385 corvettes displace 2,200 tons and measure 104 meters in length. They also feature a hangar for a single Ka-27 helicopter.
