Russian Navy's Project 22350 frigate Admiral Golovko begins sea trials


According to information published by Tass on November 30, 2022, the advanced Project 22350 frigate Admiral Golovko (NATO reporting name: Admiral Gorshkov-class) has gone to sea for the first time for shipbuilders' sea trials.
Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link


Russian Vyborg Shipyard laid the Purga ice class coastguard ship of project 23550 925 001 Russian Project 22350 frigate Admiral Golovko (Picture source: BMPD)


During the trials, the operation of the frigate’s life support systems and radio-technical weapons, including navigation and communications equipment, rescue means, damage control, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, will be checked.

The work of the frigate’s powerplant, steering gear, auxiliary mechanisms, and the anchor equipment will be tested as well. The ship’s speed, maneuverability, and vibration tests are being conducted in various modes. Baltic Fleet ships and support vessels, as well as aircraft of the fleet’s air arm are involved in the frigate’s trials.

Shipbuilders sea trials are an obligatory stage to complete the construction of any ship and are held to check the operation of its systems and mechanisms at sea and their compliance to the approved specifications, designs, technical descriptions, and operational instructions.

Trials of new hardware designed for the Russian Navy and foreign states are regularly held at Baltic Sea ranges and are supported by ships, vessels, rescue forces, and aircraft of the Baltic Fleet.

The Admiral Golovko is the Project 22350 third-built and second serial-produced frigate. The Russian Northern Fleet currently operates two frigates of this type, namely, Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Kasatonov.

The third frigate was named after Arseny Golovko (1906-1962) who was commander of the Soviet Northern Fleet during the Great Patriotic War. Project 22350 frigates carry Kalibr-NK (SS-N-27 Sizzler) cruise missiles as their basic strike weapon.

The frigate has a length of 135 m (442 ft 11 in), a beam of 16 m (52 ft 6 in), and a draught of 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in). She can reach a top speed of 29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph)

Admiral Golovko is armed with a 130 mm Amethyst/Arsenal A-192M naval gun, 16 (2 × 8) 3S14 VLS cells for Kalibr, Oniks or Zircon anti-ship cruise missiles, 32 (4 × 8) Redut VLS cells for 9M96, 9M96M, 9M96D/9M96DM(M2) and/or quad-packed 9M100 surface-to-air missiles, two Palash CIWS, eight 330 mm torpedo tubes for Paket-NK anti-torpedo/anti-submarine torpedoes and two 14.5 mm MTPU pedestal machine guns.