sorry for that Gauntlet, you got the picture from me (Severodvinsk photobucket) and I have mistakenly designated it Titan a year or two ago… I have since then noticed the mistake already, but haven’t renamed it yet!

This is the project 1914 Nedelin.

The most interesting feature of Kapusta however, is not that dome, but the four phased arrays. She was mostly used for “spying” missile tests and participating in Soviet/Russian missile tests using the phased arrays to track the missiles (including ballistic ones).
As for her ancestry, no one really knows what that was. Her size is indeed larger than a normal Kirov, yet her hull shape is indeed somewhat similar. So probably the answer is somewhere in between, designed on a Kirov hull, but built to different specifications. The carrier was to become much larger, so that isn’t an option I think, neither does her hull shape have anything of a carrier’s.
Now she is laid up in the same bay as Frunze, where her reactor is being used as a power supply to the base (in Vladivostok that is).

if that biggest and baddest nation in the region is US, you’re doomed. You’ll be out of oil and resources in no time, they’ll suck your country empty. And then they’ll start demanding other stuff to protect your fleet. And that’s a situation you really don’t want to get into.

Ah, Samos and Satan, those were the ones I meant…
Mica might not be a substitute, but USN seems to use ESSM as a substitute to CIWS too.

Ed, it doesn’t make sense at all. Would you want to risk a destroyer to hunt a mine? I wouldn’t… USN doesn’t seem to want it either as they are now returning from the idea, leaving their ROV’s off the latest Burkes again. It could be a costly mistake to keep hunting mines with major ships, and I’m pretty sure that Finland knows that too. They’ll probably opt for dedicated ships. For minehunting you need VERY specialised crews and it will give trouble to put those on a destroyer. First you have the space issue, which can probably be solved if necessary, but the biggest problem is economy. What do you do with them? Put them on all the time? They’ll get bored pretty soon when crossing an ocean… And they need practice, haven’t seen a destroyer practicing with any minehunting unit of the NATO yet.
All in all it’s better to have dedicated ships (and yes I know, it isn’t “cool” or “impressive” to have minehunters and give extra money for them, but they are one of the most important ships in the fleet).

Well, on that picture of Tornio, the SSMs are not there… There is a zodiac in that position ready for launch from the rear. There do seem to be hatches in the sloped flank of the ship aft, next to the VLS, maybe that’s a hatch for the SSMs?

Ed, it’s not because it has a VLS that it’s armed well… There even smaller boats with VLS’s too (for examply Flyvefisken), doesn’t really mean well armed. If it had a regular 8-round SAM launcher, it was equally well armed then!
As for “Offensive armament”, size does matter, the West only uses silly small Harpoons, indeed on both large and small ships. With Russian ships, such sizes do matter, you can’t put 4 Bazalt or Granits on a small boat like this!

Vicor, did you expect something different of the first “large” ship built in such a country? I didn’t… And all in all I do expect them to be happy with them otherwise they wouldn’t be at sea so much.
Wanshan, I’m sorry to say, but I must agree with Fedaykin, not in the way that you have to appologize, as I don’t see a real personal attack in what you said, but in the way that I also understood that you didn’t think he told the truth… (which he did).
I do have pictures of that area on Mumbai when she passed us VERY close when she was going to the port of Portsmouth, if you’re interested I can send them to you.

Ja, any idea when this picture was taken? It’s a LOT different from the pictures posted before! What is in that VLS behind the mast? There used to be some Mistral launchers there… And where are the SSM boxes? Is the VLS for SSM? Or is that already a structure for the Umkhonto? Is this the third unit maybe?

Always time for a good picture!

South Korea builds merchant vessels to the standard the customer demands and pays for, there are plenty of Korean built merchant vessels of a quality as good as Japanese, German, Norwegian etc. built ships.

So that is why captains say they have more confidence in 10-year old Japanese ships than they have in a 3-year old Korean one? However, what you say is true in the way that they pay for low stuff and get low stuff. First they went to Japan, excellent ships and low on cost due to low manpower costs. Then Korea was cheaper, again quality sinking, now China is cheapest…

But again, as Wanshan mentioned, we’re talking warships. Any idea if Korea already has built warships for export before? And if so, which ones? Wanshan, you should at least know that (I’m sure of it).