The Navy of the Russian Federation is the successor to the Navy of the USSR and the Russian Empire, and therefore has a glorious history and long traditions. Today, naval ships flying the St. Andrew's flag not only ensure the naval presence of the Russian state in the World Ocean, but also participate in humanitarian actions around the world.
The main task of the Russian Navy is to protect the country's sovereignty outside its land territory, as well as to create conditions for ensuring calm maritime activities in the World Ocean. There are other tasks that are assigned to the ships, they are all diverse and have their own characteristics.
Proceeding from this, the Russian navy has always had a wide variety of equipment and vessels. The classification of ships depends on their specialization, type of power plant and displacement. Ships are divided into classes depending on their purpose, and those, in turn, into subclasses.
The division of ships is carried out by ranks. The ranking depends on the tactical and technical properties of the vessel and its immediate purpose. The Russian Navy has four ranks of ships, the highest of which is considered to be the first. The Russian Navy includes combat ships, special-purpose ships, roadstead and naval support vessels.
General characteristics and types of ships of the 1st rank
This class of ships includes submarines and large surface ships. All ships of the first rank have seniority over the rest in matters of supply, manning and in terms of ceremonial procedures.
Types of ships of the first rank:
- An aircraft carrier is a large surface ship designed to provide air cover, land assault forces, air strikes against enemy ships and coastal coastal defense. Aircraft carriers are equipped with facilities to ensure the placement and operation of aircraft.
- A cruiser is a large combat surface ship designed to carry out the tasks of destroying warships, defending its own warships and convoys, providing fire support to the coastal flanks of ground forces and ensuring the landing of amphibious assault forces. The cruiser is armed with various types of missile, mine-torpedo, artillery, anti-submarine weapons of various calibers.
- A destroyer is a large surface combat ship with tasks similar to a cruiser. The main armament of the destroyer is a strike missile system and an air defense system.
- A submarine is a submarine combat ship with the main mine-torpedo or missile armament.
- Anti-submarine ship - a combat surface ship, whose tasks include finding, tracking and destroying enemy submarines. The main armament of the anti-submarine ship is hydroacoustic and anti-submarine systems.
- Landing ship of the 1st rank is a surface ship designed to transport military equipment and personnel of the amphibious assault and provide its landing and fire support.
Subclasses of ships of the 1st rank
Ships of the first rank constitute the main striking force of the Russian Navy, therefore their classification is the most extensive, with branched out subclasses of ships. In particular, cruisers are represented by heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers with a displacement of over 25,000 tons. It is these ships of the Navy that demonstrate the power of the country in the international arena.
Also in the lineup should be noted heavy nuclear missile cruisers operating on a nuclear installation. These ships are based on 2 helicopters and an attack guided missile system capable of destroying large enemy surface ships.
Missile cruisers are mainly used in remote areas of the oceans. Nuclear submarine cruisers are capable of hitting a large coastal target at a distance of up to 8250 km from a depth of 400-600 meters.
For this, the submarine is equipped with a long-range missile system D-9R with 16 R-29R missiles, D-9RMU2 with 16 R-29RMU2 Sineva missiles and D-19M with 16 Bulava-type missiles. And also at its disposal 533-mm torpedo tubes designed to defeat large coastal targets from a submerged position.
General characteristics and types of ships of the 2nd rank
The ship of the second rank is a ship of the line with a displacement of 1,500 to 5,000 tons. Ships of the 2nd rank have a jack, which, when moored, rises on a bow flagpole. The purpose of ships of the second rank is to carry out defensive and offensive military operations in the far sea zone. Moreover, the ship can fight both independently and as part of formations.
The class of ships of rank 2 includes:
- A patrol ship, the main tasks of which are to protect the convoy of warships and transport ships from attacks by submarines, light surface forces and aircraft at crossings. Still, the "patrol" is a multipurpose combat ship with artillery, missile, mine, anti-submarine weapons.
- Rocket ships designed to destroy enemy surface ships in the closed seas, as well as in the near sea zone.
- Special purpose submarines to destroy opponents.
- Landing ships, whose tasks include the transportation of military equipment and marines.
General characteristics and types of ships of rank 3
Rank 3 ships are small craft. They are designed to defeat any enemy naval combat equipment in the closed seas and transport personnel and military equipment. The main armament of ships is an air defense system and a strike missile system.
Types of ships of rank 3:
- Small rocket ship.
- Small artillery ship with artillery armament of 100 mm caliber.
- Small anti-submarine ship.
- Small landing ship.
- Minesweeper.
Artillery ships provide fire support for amphibious assault forces, and anti-submarine ships find, track down and destroy enemy submarines. Landing ships carry out the landing of marines on an unequipped coast in areas of water areas with a shallow depth.
Minesweepers as surface vessels of special purpose detect and carry out trawling of bottom and sea anchor mines. The tasks of the minesweeper also include leading the rest of the ships through mined areas.
General characteristics and types of ships of rank 4
Rank 4 ships are battleships and combat boats. Displacement in this class is from 100 to 500 tons. These naval units of the Navy also do not have a jack. The tasks of the ships include patrolling and other protective actions in the coastal zone of the country's seas, the zone of the Naval Bases and on roadsteads. Moreover, they can perform their tasks both as part of the formations and independently.
The minesweeper (base and roadstead) is designed to search, detect, trawl and destroy anchor and bottom mines, set minefields in roadsteads, in the naval base and the coastal sea zone in order to protect the water area. The main armament of the minesweeper is various types of search apparatus and trawls.
Landing craft is a small surface ship with a diesel installation with a displacement of 60-280 tons, designed for unloading troops and equipment on an unequipped shore.
A combat missile, artillery and anti-sabotage boat is a small combat ship, the task of which is to strike at enemy combat and transport ships in cramped coastal waters. Also, the ships are used to protect the water area and to carry out patrol service on roadsteads and in the internal sea waters of the country. The combat boats are mainly equipped with artillery and missile weapons of various calibers.
