Russian landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov
{{Short description|Russian Navy landing ship}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = File:NikoraiFil'chenkov2007Sevastopol.jpg | Ship caption = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Russia | Ship flag = {{Shipboxflag|Russia|navy}} | Ship name = Nikolai Filchenkov | Ship namesake ={{ill|Nikolai Filchenkov|ru|Фильченков, Николай Дмитриевич}} | Ship ordered = | Ship awarded = | Ship builder = Yantar Shipyard, Kaliningrad | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number =304 | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = 30 January 1974 | Ship launched = 29 March 1975 | Ship sponsor = | Ship christened = | Ship completed = | Ship acquired = | Ship commissioned = 30 December 1975 | Ship decommissioned = | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship renamed = | Ship reclassified = | Ship refit = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship homeport = Sevastopol | Ship identification = Hull number {{ubl|560 (1975-1976)|409 (1976-1980)|417 (1980)|141 (1980-1982)|136 (1982-1985)|143 (1985)|146 (1985-1988)|142 (1988-1991)|152 (1991-present)}} | Ship motto = | Ship nickname | Ship honours = | Ship fate = | Ship status = In service | url = | Ship notes = | Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = {{sclass2|Tapir|landing ship}} | Ship type = | Ship tonnage = | Ship displacement = *3,400 tons standard
| Ship length = {{cvt|112.8 |
| 113.1|m|ftin}}
| Ship beam = {{cvt|15.3 |
| 15.6|m|ftin}}
| Ship height = | Ship draught = | Ship draft = {{cvt|4.5|m|ftin}} | Ship depth = | Ship hold depth = | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = | Ship ramps = | Ship ice class = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = 2 diesels, 2 shafts, {{cvt|9,000|bhp}} | Ship sail plan = | Ship speed = {{convert|16 |
| 18|kn|km/h}}
| Ship range = | Ship endurance = | Ship test depth = | Ship boats = | Ship capacity = 1,000 tons | Ship troops = 300–425 troops and 20 tanks, or 40 AFVs, or 1,000 tons | Ship complement = | Ship crew = 55 | Ship time to activate = | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = *Missiles: 1 × 122 mm naval Grad bombardment rocket launcher in some, 3 × SA-N-5 SAM positions in some.{{cite book |last=Polmar |first=Norman |author-link=Norman Polmar |year=1991 |title=Guide to the Soviet Navy |edition=5th |publisher=Naval Institute Press |page=219 |isbn=978-0-87021-241-3}}
| Ship armour = | Ship armor = | Ship aircraft = | Ship aircraft facilities = | Ship notes = }} |
Nikolai Filchenkov ({{langx|ru|Николай Фильченков}}) is a {{sclass2|Tapir|landing ship}} of the Russian Navy and part of the Black Sea Fleet.
Named after commissar {{ill|Nikolai Filchenkov|ru|Фильченков, Николай Дмитриевич}}, a posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union killed in action during the Second World War, the ship was built in Kaliningrad. She is classified as a BDK ({{langx|ru|БДК}}) for {{langx|ru|Большой десантный корабль|translit=Bolshoy desantnyi korabl'|translation=large landing ship|link=no}}. She is one of the Tapir class designated Project 1171/IV by the Russian Navy, with the NATO reporting name Alligator.
Construction and commissioning
Nikolai Filchenkov was built by Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad, being laid down on 30 January 1974 and launched on 29 March 1975.{{cite web|url=https://russianships.info/eng/warships/project_1171.htm|title= Large landing ships Project 1171 Tapir|publisher=russianships.info|accessdate=12 April 2025}} She was commissioned into the Soviet Navy on 30 December 1975 as part of its Black Sea Fleet. She was named in honour of commissar {{ill|Nikolai Filchenkov|ru|Фильченков, Николай Дмитриевич}}, a posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union killed in action during operations around the Siege of Sevastopol during the Second World War.{{cite web|url=https://dzen.ru/a/W-CcmW_5eACqUo53|title=Большой десантный корабль «Николай Фильченков»|date=5 November 2018|publisher=dzen.ru|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}} She was homeported in Sevastopol, and with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late December 1991, she went on to serve in the Russian Navy.{{cite web|url=https://flot.com/nowadays/strength/filchenkov.htm|title="Николай Фильченков" |publisher=flot.com|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}}
Career
Nikolai Filchenkov was often deployed into the Mediterranean and further afield during the Soviet period, serving as part of Soviet responses to conflicts in the Middle East. From March to July 1976, and again from November 1977 to January 1978, she visited ports in Angola during the Angolan Civil War. She was rated as excellent eight times in annual reviews between 1975 and 2004, and the best ship in the Black Sea Fleet in her rank in 1996 and 1997. In August 2000, she made four voyages with other Black Sea Fleet ships from Gonio, Georgia, to Utrishenok, Russia, carrying equipment of the Russian Transcaucasus Group of Forces. On 23 March 2005, she entered Ukraine to carry out landing exercises around Feodosia, causing protests from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Russian commanders claimed that the exercises had been agreed with the competent Ukrainian authorities.{{cite web|url=https://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2005/03/24_kz_258338.shtml|title=Россия высадила десант в Крыму|date=24 March 2005|publisher=Rossiskaya Gazeta|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}} The ship was again the cause of a diplomatic problems in September 2009, when it was reported that the Nikolai Filchenkov had brought a cargo of cruise missiles to Sevastopol, with the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announcing checks into the claims.{{cite web|url=https://www.gazeta.ru/news/lenta/2009/09/22/n_1406215.shtml|title=МИД Украины проверяет информацию о ввозе крылатых ракет в Севастополь|date=29 September 2009|publisher=Rossiskaya Gazeta|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}}
In December 2012, Nikolai Filchenkov deployed into the Mediterranean as part of the Russian naval group there. She carried out exercises in June 2013 with the destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov, which had been detached from the Northern Fleet.{{cite web|url=https://www.korabel.ru/news/comments/vice-admiral_kulakov_i_nikolay_filchenkov_provedut_v_sredizemnom_more_sovmestnoe_uchenie.html|title="Вице-адмирал Кулаков" и "Николай Фильченков" проведут в Средиземном море совместное учение|date=18 June 2013|publisher=korabel.ru|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}} Nikolai Filchenkov entered Syrian waters on a visit on 25 September 2013. She began a refit at the 13th Ship Repair Plant in Sevastopol in July 2014, returning to the fleet the following year. In February 2015, complaints about the poor quality of food and other violations resulted in an investigation, which uncovered a number of violations on the ship. In October 2015, she was part of the Syrian Express with a number of other Russian landing ships, conveying supplies to the Russian naval facility in Tartus, Syria, during the Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war. Her sister ship Saratov and the Ropucha-class
Yamal also made supply deliveries that month.{{cite web|url=https://www.korabel.ru/news/comments/bdk_yamal_proshel_cherez_tureckie_prolivy_v_sredizemnomore.html|title=БДК "Ямал" прошел через турецкие проливы в Средиземноморье|date=20 October 2015|publisher=korabel.ru|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}} She made further visits the following year, and again in 2017.{{cite web|url=https://www.korabel.ru/news/comments/bdk_nikolay_filchenkov_vezet_gruz_v_tartus.html|title=БДК "Николай Фильченков" везет груз в Тартус|date=19 October 2016|publisher=korabel.ru|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}}{{cite web|url=https://www.korabel.ru/news/comments/bdk_nikolay_filchenkov_vernulsya_v_chernoe_more.html|title=БДК "Николай Фильченков" вернулся в Черное море|date=19 April 2017|publisher=korabel.ru|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}}
On 24 May 2017, she exercised in the Mediterranean with the landing ships Azov and Tsezar Kunikov, the frigates Admiral Essen and Admiral Grigorovich, and the destroyer Smetlivy.{{cite web|url=https://www.korabel.ru/news/comments/korabli_chernomorskogo_flota_otrabotali_v_sredizemnom_more_sovmestnye_deystviya_po_zaschite_konvoya.html|title=Корабли Черноморского флота отработали в Средиземном море совместные действия по защите конвоя|date=24 May 2017|publisher=korabel.ru|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}} She returned from a deployment with the Russian naval group in the Mediterranean in April 2018, and carried out mine warfare and gunnery exercises in August that year.{{cite web|url=https://www.korabel.ru/news/comments/bdk_nikolay_filchenkov_vozvraschaetsya_domoy.html|title=БДК "Николай Фильченков" возвращается домой|date=23 April 2018|publisher=korabel.ru|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}}{{cite web|url=https://www.korabel.ru/news/comments/morskoy_tralschik_vice-admiral_zaharin_obespechil_prohod_bdk_nikolay_filchenkov_cherez_minnye_zagrazhdeniya_v_ramkah_ucheniya.html|title=Морской тральщик "Вице-адмирал Захарьин" обеспечил проход БДК "Николай Фильченков" через минные заграждения в рамках учения|date=13 August 2018|publisher=korabel.ru|accessdate=12 April 2025|language=Russian}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Tapir class landing ship}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolai Filchenkov}}
Category:Alligator-class landing ships
Category:Ships built at Yantar Shipyard