Two stealth battleships join Russia’s Black Sea Fleet / information support department of the Black Sea FLeet
Serpukhov and Green Dol light battleships, the newest entries to the Black Sea Fleet, entered the occupied Crimea’s Sevastopol harbor today, according to Viacheslav Trubachev, press officer of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper reported.
"Yesterday the light battleships successfully passed tests in Novorossiysk and made it to their permanent base in 24 hours," he said.
According to him, the two new light battleships joining the Black Fleet is a significant event, as the Fleet had received no vessels of this class since 2002, when the Samum missile hovercraft of Russia’s Baltic Fleet was deployed in Sevastopol.
Read alsoNATO intercepts squadron of 12 Russian military planes over BalticsA distinctive feature of Project 21631 light battleships is the advanced stealth technology: the absorbing coating of the body and special design of the silhouette. In addition, the hull design reduces return making it harder to tell these fast and maneuverable battleships from fishing boats or large yachts.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Black Sea Fleet’s naval aviation in 2016 will receive a new batch of multifunctional Su-30SM multifunctional fighterjets to replace Su24 frontline bombers.