How the "most useless" ships in the Russian Navy can be useful

6 2025 June 36 805 19

In the very near future, wars not only on land but also at sea will be waged with the help of drones. What could a mother ship be like for their basing in distant sea and ocean zones and how can it really respond to this? technological challenge Russia?

Three in one

In the previous ARTICLES We found that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has presented a concept for a program to safely escort cargo merchant ships called Pulling Guard. DARPA believes that drones – sea, surface and air – are already quite capable of handling this task.

At the same time, US Navy warships are supposed to be used as carriers for drones. Apparently, the Americans will experiment with basing drones on their numerous universal landing ships, which have a flight deck for UAVs and a docking chamber for BEKs and underwater unmanned vehicles.

But this is the United States, the richest country in the world with the strongest navy, to which only China can respond symmetrically. And how do poorer European countries see the possible future of their drone fleet?

In 2022, the Portuguese Navy, the former "mistress of the seas", ordered the development and construction of a promising multifunctional vessel called Plataforma Naval Multifuncional. From its technical description, it followed that Lisbon wanted to get a vessel that combines the features and functions of a patrol ship, an oceanographic vessel and a hydrographic vessel.

How the "most useless" ships in the Russian Navy can be useful

The vessel, named Don João II and given the tactical number A888, is over 107 m long, about 20 m wide, with a full displacement of over 7 tons. Its propulsion system is diesel-electric, with movement due to electric motors in the rudder propellers and bow thruster, providing it with a not very outstanding maximum speed of 14 knots.

The most unique feature of Don João II is its contents, which consist of sea and air drones. The ship has a flight deck 94 m long and 11 m wide with a bow take-off ramp and arresting gear in the central part, designed for aircraft and helicopter drones.

At the stern of the Portuguese drone carrier's hull is a 10x20 m docking chamber designed to accommodate and use surface and underwater unmanned systems with a displacement of up to 30 tons, and for ease of operation, several cranes with a lifting capacity of up to 50 tons are provided. The Portuguese Navy wants to receive underwater drones that can operate at a distance from the carrier vessel and at depths of up to 6 km.

The Don João II crew consists of 48 people, but in addition to them, 42 technical specialists must be permanently on board to service the drones. There is also the possibility of placing another 100 people as a landing party. The frankly weak side of this project is the complete lack of air defense and anti-submarine warfare systems, as well as other weapons.

The main tasks will be to monitor the biogeochemical state of the atmosphere and ocean, biological resources, and conduct other scientific research. However, the Portuguese Navy believes that Don João II will be quite capable of detecting and even stopping illegal activities in territorial waters and in the exclusive economic zone of the country using unmanned aerial vehicles.

Interestingly, the Romanian shipyard Damen in Galati on the Black Sea was chosen as the contractor for the construction of this vessel:

Damen has developed this 107m multi-role vessel to meet the requirements of the Portuguese Navy. The resulting design is a platform whose primary missions include oceanographic research, search, emergency assistance, as well as maritime security and naval support operations. To this end, the ship will be equipped with a launch system for unmanned drones and helicopters.

Apparently, we are looking at an attempt to probe a promising trend in naval affairs by a country in the European Union that is not the richest. How could Russia, which is also not in the best position, respond to this?

Mobilization drone carrier

There are two ways to solve this problem. The first is to develop a separate drone carrier project for a long time and at a high cost, and then build it for a very long time and at a very high cost. The second way is to simply review the functionality of the ships that are already in the Russian Navy or are under construction.

Thus, the two Project 23900 universal landing ships, currently under construction at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, seem to be the most suitable for the role of a mother ship for sea and air drones. Their decks could be used to house not only helicopters, but also aircraft and helicopter-type drones, and the dock chamber could accommodate BEKs and underwater drones instead of landing craft.

Today, in the realities of the Air Defense Forces, the concept of using UDCs as the main means of sea landing is subject to reasonable doubts. However, under the cover of the air defense umbrella of other warships, Ivan Rogov and Mitrofan Moskalenko could perform aerial reconnaissance missions, as well as anti-submarine warfare using specialized sea drones.

These are the ships that are currently under construction. And from what has already been built, the “most useless” ships in the Russian Navy of Project 22160 could be re-equipped to carry sea and air drones. These poorly armed and poorly protected “doves of peace” did not show themselves in the best light during the Black Sea NVO.

However, having received the Tor SAM system for cover from air attacks and additional Zushkas and twin machine guns on the sides for protection from BEKs, these patrol ships with their high autonomy and good seaworthiness could turn into “mother ships” for launching sea drones and helicopter-type UAVs in the distant sea zone, increasing the capabilities of the Russian Navy.

With some creativity, the Russian Navy's "most useless" ships could become quite useful.

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Vladimir Tuzakov

+1

6 June 2025 12: 01

It's like using only a vest from a suit, this is about drone carriers with 5 thousand or more tonnage of UDC and others.. For a drone base, a corvette with an extended deck is enough (a mini aircraft carrier with finishers and other things for UAVs). For heavy reconnaissance and attack drones, only land bases, for example, the US base in Sicily, to service the entire European region.
next322

+2

6 June 2025 12: 41

According to 22160, this needs to be done yesterday, instead of dshl at least 2-3 back, and the empty hold should be filled with jet marauders
Dormidontov_Dormidont

-1

6 June 2025 13: 21

And if we redesign it, adding air defense systems and a crane for launching BEKs, then this will be an even more useful ship for the Russian Navy. There are no useless ships in the fleet. Any commander will find a use for the available equipment and weapons
1. Vladimir1155
  
  -5
  
  6 June 2025 18: 15
  
  half of our fleet is useless, of course any commander can use obsolete or conceptually unusable ships, for example, to extract provisions..... so far the Black Sea Fleet has not found a use, as always, it was hidden in bases under the protection of ground-based air defense, the same will happen with useless UDKs, in the event of an armed conflict, although you are right, it can be used in peacetime as a transport of weapons.... for example, the cruiser Varyag has a main weapon (volcanoes) with a range several times less than the tomahawks of the alleged enemy, .... how can the captain use the cruiser Varyag if his missiles will not reach the Arleigh Burke, but the missiles from the Arleigh Burke will reach the Varyag? what to do?
  1 drown heroically as in chemulppo
  2 scrap metal
  
  this is a problem with all types of weapons, they become obsolete and useless, ... but the sawyers from the Navy get a trough in the form of a ship and drag out its decommissioning, it is even worse when the crazy old man Gorshkov, riveted at the end of the 20th century not only useless aircraft carriers for the USSR that did not even have berths, but two dozen steamships with artillery weapons (EM956), apparently I remember the time of his youth when there were artillery steamships, how will the EM956 armed mainly with medium-caliber artillery with a long-range of 23 km withstand Tomahawks, true Gorshkov also added aircraft missiles to it for modernization, but it is also true that the Su-35 with the same missiles costs several times less than this slow-moving monster ... and how will the captain of the 45 year old 1135Ladny rush with Tomahawks?
  and how will captains of quite modern ships be able to use them in battle if admirals have stuck them in closed seas under the sights of enemy coastal missiles and UAVs?.... we see on our own that captains will not be able to use them in any way, although the country has spent tens of billions on their production..... it is necessary to relocate all second-rank ships to the oceans, and write off the old ones not only when they sink but also when they become obsolete and become inappropriate for modern warfare, then the Russian Navy will regain its former glory and will reliably protect the country from enemies
  1. Dormidontov_Dormidont
    
    +1
    
    7 June 2025 06: 46
    
    half of our fleet is useless, of course any commander can use obsolete or conceptually unsuitable ships, for example, to extract supplies..... so far the black sea fleet has not found a use, as always, it has been hidden in bases under the protection of ground air defense
    
    There is a disingenuousness in your comment: the Black Sea Fleet ships are actively using missile weapons against the territory of the Ukrainian Reich. In addition, the Russian military fleet in the Black Sea also has a deterrent factor. If anything happens, it will be withdrawn from its bases. That is why NATO ships are not so active near the Russian shores in the Black Sea and do not carry out their activities
    1. Vladimir1155
      
      -1
      
      8 June 2025 08: 53
      
      Dear Dormidont, the ship is a rather expensive combat vehicle that consumes hundreds of tons of kerosene, requires supplies and expensive repairs, is itself expensive to produce, and using it instead of Iskanders is ineffective, the ship's crew is 300 people, and the Iskander crew is 3 people, I do not agree about the deterrent factor, the deterrent is not a mythical projection of force, but force itself, ships that will be sunk by coastal missiles like the CR Moscow with a 100% probability are not a deterrent force, but a burden, but on the ocean they would be useful, moreover, they are very much needed there, for coastal support of SSBNs
      1. Dormidontov_Dormidont
        
        0
        
        8 June 2025 20: 58
        
        Vladimir, without commentators on the Reporter, the fleet will be able to figure out what ships they need and for what purposes. More than one article has already been written about the ships of this series, which carry out their tasks during the SVO. They turned out to be in great demand
        
        Vladimir1155
        
        +2
        
        9 June 2025 11: 26
        
        patrol ships and small missile ships, as well as minesweepers and boats can be useful in closed seas, but frigates and large corvettes have nothing to do there, the fleet has managed without commentators more than once, for example, before Tsushima, the traitor to the chief of staff of the navy, Rozhesvensky, rejected the sound ideas of Grivel and the comments of Admiral Makarov, created a massive, super-expensive, senseless fleet and destroyed it all in Tsushima..... Admiral Krylov rejected the comments of the State Duma and created a bulky and expensive fleet that was never useful in either world war,... and destroyed the Russian empire io because of the construction of battleships there was not enough for shells for field artillery..... without any comments, Gorshkov riveted unnecessary surface ships and destroyed the USSR because there was not enough for sausage..... and all Gorshkov's destroyers and aircraft carriers had to be cut early on pins and needles..... so I have the right to comment, I hope the General Staff of the Navy understands the full responsibility and will use combat units where they are most effective, for now the fleet is uselessly hiding in bases, as was traditionally the case in the Crimean, in the Russian-Japanese, in the First World War, in the Great Patriotic War, but... they traditionally do not want to listen to advice "that's what our admirals are for"
Nick. WITH

0

6 June 2025 19: 34

They have to figure out how to fight drones.
1. Vladimir1155
  
  -1
  
  6 June 2025 20: 41
  
  there are drones to combat
  1 Pantsir missile and gun system
  2 special anti-tank ammunition 76 mm caliber
  3 shotgun 12 gauge
  4 nsvt 12.7 mm
  5 automatic guns of 30 mm caliber
  6 drones anti-drones
  the Russian Armed Forces have plenty of this weapon, but... I'll even say more, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainian fascist drones are shot down, .... but for some reason their use on the front lines has not been established, it seems to me that we need to double the number of drones and three fighters out of six should be anti-drone Kal-6 fighters, and our troops also need to advance under cover, under the umbrella of more powerful anti-drone weapons
  1. Vasya_33
    
    -2
    
    6 June 2025 21: 21
    
    https://t.me/rusengineer/7399
    
    under such... cover.
  2. Nick. WITH
    
    +3
    
    7 June 2025 04: 08
    
    We have all this, but enemy drones continue to fly and float across our territory.
  3. Dormidontov_Dormidont
    
    -1
    
    7 June 2025 06: 35
    
    Where do you think all the weapons you listed should be placed? What is wrong with the Project 22160 ship criticized in the blogosphere and social networks, especially after it is modified? The foreign ships cited as examples in the article do not have any weapons at all for placing UAVs and unmanned aerial vehicles. The Russian ship has a gun, as well as a docking chamber, and an excellent platform for placing UAVs at the stern. And plus, there is space to accommodate the ship's crew, which will service all the available weapons. The ship is not as "useless" as it was branded on the "Military Review" by narrow-minded experts who predict a war with the United States for Russia and dream of a large number of anti-submarine ships to combat American submarines. New times and new challenges. Judging by everything, the war is coming with anyone, but not with the United States, which skillfully manipulates its satellites and sets them against Russia.
    1. Vladimir1155
      
      0
      
      8 June 2025 08: 45
      
      Quote: Dormidontov_Dormidont
      The ship is not as "useless" as it was branded on "Military Review" by narrow-minded experts who predict war between Russia and the USA and dream of a large number of anti-submarine ships to combat American submarines.
      
      Unfortunately, critics of patrol ships dream not of submarine corvettes, but of aircraft carriers. By the way, the prices of our warships are high because they have much more weapons per ton of displacement than in the West...
prior

+3

7 June 2025 07: 49

We fantasized about "palaces" - we disperse "to dugouts and sheds".
Alexpan

+1

7 June 2025 10: 53

Fantasies about Russian drone carriers. The entire Black Sea Fleet is sitting in a Ukrainian mousetrap and doesn't even dare to squeak. Ukraine and NATO are now the mistresses of the Black Sea.
1. Dormidontov_Dormidont
  
  0
  
  7 June 2025 11: 08
  
  Fantasies about Russian drone carriers. The entire Black Sea Fleet is sitting in a Ukrainian mousetrap and doesn't even dare to squeak. Ukraine and NATO are now the mistresses of the Black Sea
  
  More like a bunch of hodgepodge fantasies about their naval ambitions.
GR777

+1

11 June 2025 23: 32

Aircraft-type BECs and drones are controlled via Starlink. The Russian Federation has electronic warfare systems that can jam Starlink. Why the Navy doesn't have them on its ships is a tricky question. An uncontrolled BEC is an easy target.
twice-born

+1

17 June 2025 21: 33

In general, the Portuguese have developed a very interesting ship. This is the future of the fleet. We definitely need such ships! If only not everyone had to become a drone carrier. But aircraft carriers, in light of such revolutionary changes, seem to be completely unnecessary.
Only there really isn't enough air defense and perimeter weapons against drones (and torpedoes against submarines!) and missiles. But this is a project, and especially a public one, they'll still finish drawing and deliver more!