The Russian Navy has commissioned a new Project 22350 Admiral Golovko frigate.

Russian media reported on this.

The Admiral Golovko frigate was solemnly transferred to the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy on December 25, 2023. On November 23, the vessel completed the state test cycle.

The original plan was that the frigate would be launched by the end of 2017. However, the deadline was delayed by three years due to problems with the installation of the power plant, which lacked Ukrainian-made gas turbines.

Admiral Golovko became the third frigate of Project 22350. Currently, two frigates of this type are in service with the Northern Fleet of Russia, namely Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Kasatonov.

According to the expectations of the Russian military, the frigate should strengthen the grouping of surface ships of the Navy in the far sea zone.

Project 22350 frigates

Project 22350 ships are capital ships with a tonnage of over 4,500 tons. In terms of their functionality, they are close to cruisers, having a wide arsenal of high-precision missile weapons on board with a relatively small displacement.

The frigate is capable of carrying up to 16 Kalibr, Oniks cruise missiles, or Zircon hypersonic missiles. The ship is equipped with SAM to protect against air threats.

The vessel is protected from air attacks by a 32-missile-cell Polyment-Redut anti-aircraft missile system capable of intercepting air and ballistic targets at a range of up to 150 km.

The ship’s artillery armament is represented by a 130 mm A-192M gun. Alongside the helicopter hangar, two 3М89 Palash CIWS with two 30-mm six-barrel guns are mounted on each side of the ship.

The Russian fleet plans to build eight frigates within Project 22350. In addition to the three ships already launched, five more frigates are located at the Severnaya Verf at various stages of construction:

• Admiral Isakov
• Admiral Amelco
• Admiral Chichagov
• Admiral Yumashev
• Admiral Spiridonov

In May last year, the Russian shipbuilding company Severnaya Verf transferred the Merkuriy Project 20380 corvette to the Russian Navy.