They have that kind of communications buoy, at least the Russia subs have it, don’t have time to get you more information

Since my photobucket seems to be repaired, here you have Pilkiy, one of the two upgraded Krivak Is (Pylkiy in Baltic fleet, Legkiy in Norhtern Fleet).

This picture is taken by Guy Toremans! Please do not use it on any other site! And also try not to download it or my Photobucket will be closed again, which will force me to close it all down and send the pictures to the ones I think will appreciate them….

You can see the Uran racks just in front of the bridge, but no associated radars (and given the shape of the racks, I wonder whether these are Uran racks at all)… Only the two Eye Bowl guidance radars for Silex/Rastrub, Palm Front (Navigation radars), two Pop Group (one on top of the Bridge, one in the back,the OSA-MA launcher is just behind the funnel) and the Kite Screech radar (in the back). The funny thing is of course that this ship still has two main guns in the back, of which the most aft one seems to be quite useless, given the new VDS that’s blocking the field of fire of this gunmount… One wonder’s if the gun has any use at all… Jonesy, you’ll get the high-res picture as soon as I finish my exams.

As a general note, it should be said that all those new corvettes and frigates seem to have gotten rid of the RBU-launchers… The upgraded Krivaks also got the Uran racks instead of those RBU launchers… It’s good for “stealth” to get rid of those launchers, but I wonder why they got rid of them, since they are regarded as quite good systems!

Normally I would credit the LA class with the highest speeds for current submarines. Probably indeed between 35-40kts. Akula probably has something like 32-35kts too. The best underwater shape is the cilinder, that is why merchant vessels still have roundings on their bottom. A rectangular shape would allow them to carry a larger volume, but to achieve more speed, you need a round shape. Since a round shape would be very bad for stability and internal volume, they chose the regular ship shape.
Akula seems to have a better sail, but that is probably caused by her higher hullshape. Yet of course her hull is not cilindrical, and I suppose that would make her slightly slower than LA. NOT SURE about this of course, since I’m not in their development…
I don’t know why they don’t use propellor tunnels either. I suppose the pumpjet has about the same effect of such a propellor tunnel, but normally these tunnels are used with normal props. They are built like a airplane with, pushing more water inside the tunnel, where the propellor can propel the vessel more efficiently. Or counterrotating props like torpedoes. I have a picture of a merchant vessel already using counterrotating props. Or would that make it too noisy?

Well only Mitrofan Moskalenko is still in service with the Northern fleet, the others are out of service (scrapped?).
What a weird vessel, the new one, seems quite unfinished, no radars and stuff… No mast…

It’s not in such a bad shape…
The Udaloys had some deployments with Varyag, same with the missile boats. There was a US-British-Russian exercise in the Peter the Great Bay this year. I think it was Vinogradov (Udaloy class) who participated in that exercise together with a Tarantul III and some ASW planes.
There was of course also the Deployment to Yokosuka in Japan, in which a Kilo, Nanuchka III and Varyag participated. And some deployment to China with Varyag and Admiral Panteleyev (I think that was in 2003, not sure). Anyway, in the last years they have done at least some sailing and exercises and I was surprised and glad to see that it’s not always Varyag with Panteleyev who made the deployments, but that also some other units were involved. Everyone his turn I suppose…

Good question, these hatches have been my concern too. It’s not impossible that these are indeed hatches for a VLS, but since they seem to be single hatches I doubt it would have any weapons. It could as well be a supply hatch, like seen on many Russian vessels.
Shtil, as I said before, it would be impossible since there is no guidance radar around… It could of course have a new active or IR guided SAM instead… I heard they were working on a R-27 or similar missile for VLS launches. It’s hard estimate the size of that hatch, but compared to the AK-630 mount, it looks rather small for more than 2 or 4 missiles…
Considering the electronic outfit of this ship, the Klub and AK-630s and the main gun (both guided by the Bass Tilt) seem to be the only weapons. And since the Russians always use a different radar for most systems, I don’t think there’s anything else (except for the helo and torpedo tubes of course).
Is that drawing in the book similar to this ship? Or does it have some differences?

Edit: I just looked at an old post of mine at acig.org and maybe the VLS could be for Medvedka-VE, there seems to be a single VLS for 6 Medvedka-VE anti-submarine rocket/torpedo on the project 20382 “Tiger” corvettes. Maybe these are 3 VLSs for 2 missiles each? Although I doubt the position of the middle one, so close to the superstructure and mast…

Dionis: Nope
Garry, if it’s a Russian ship, the name would be Yezh (for Shtil-1) or Uragan (for Shtil) since these are the domestic names. I don’t see any on this ship, but maybe we have a little comunication problem here… I am talking about the last picture I posted. Talwar does have Shtil-1 and Klub, so maybe what you are saying is for the Talwar class? Although Talwar doesn’t have AK-630 and Iglas… Or you are talking about something completely different, since the Russians have many many projects running…
The Bass Tilt is indeed used for most of their older guns. It’s all the same radar! But mostly it’s used with the AK-630s, two gun mounts per radar and sometimes on small vessels 1 gunmount for the single radar.

Stereguchy of which two are building.