Koni-class frigate

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Class overview
Name	Koni class (Project 1159)
Operators	Soviet Navy  Algerian National Navy  Bulgarian Navy  Cuban Revolutionary Navy  Volksmarine  German Navy  Egyptian Navy  Libyan Navy  Yugoslav Navy  Navy of Serbia and Montenegro
Preceded by	Mirka class
Succeeded by	Gepard class
Built	1975–1988
Completed	14
Active	5
Lost	1
General characteristics
Type	Frigate
Displacement	1,140 tons (standard) 1,900 tons (full load)[1]
Length	95 m (311 ft 8 in)
Beam	12.8 m (42 ft 0 in)
Draft	5 m (16 ft 5 in)[2]
Propulsion	CODAG 1 gas turbine M8V DN59L4 unit 13.4 MW + 2 diesels 3 shafts; 35,000 shp (26,000 kW) total[1]
Speed	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range	3,300 km (1,800 nmi; 2,100 mi) at 26 km/h (14 kn; 16 mph)
Complement	110[1]
Sensors and processing systems	Radar barret-2, Slim Net, Strut curve, pop group, Hawk Screech, Drum Tilt Sonar - Herkules hull mounted & dipping sonar
Armament	1 × 4K33 "Osa-M" launcher (20 missiles) 4 × P-15M Termit anti-ship missile launchers 2 × twin 76.2 mm dual purpose guns 2 × twin 30 mm guns 2 × RBU-6000 Depth charge launchers provision for 20 naval mines

The Koni class is the NATO reporting name for an anti-submarine warfare frigate built by the Soviet Union. They were known in the Soviet Union as Project 1159. 14 were built in Zelenodolsk shipyard between 1975 and 1988. They were originally intended to replace the older Riga-class frigates, but were instead chosen as a design for export to various friendly navies. The Koni I sub class were designed for European waters and the Koni II were made for warmer waters.^[3] One ship was retained by the Soviets in the Black Sea for training foreign crews. Only a few of these vessels remain in service today.

The Romanian Tetal-class corvettes were similar.

Design[edit]

Armament[edit]

The armament consisted of two AK-726 twin 76 mm (3.0 in) gun mountings and two AK-230 twin 30 mm (1.2 in) anti-aircraft guns, 4 P-15M Termit anti-ship missile launchers were fitted in some ships, depth charge and naval mine racks were fitted at the stern. The Libyan vessels had a redesigned layout with the P-15M missiles forward of the bridge. The ships had contemporary Soviet radar and sonar.

Propulsion[edit]

The ships had 3-shaft CODAG machinery suite, identical to that used in the Grisha-class corvettes (Project 1124). The middle shaft had an 18,000 hp (13,000 kW) gas turbine while the outer two shafts had diesel engines with 9,000 hp (6,700 kW) in total for economical cruising.

Ships in class[edit]

MV Captain Keith Tibbetts[edit]

In September 1996 a former Cuban Navy Koni II-class frigate designated 356 was scuttled in shallow water in Cayman Brac. This ship was built in 1984 as one of three Koni II-class frigates sold to Cuba to support its Cold War fleet. In 1996 the ship was purchased from Cuba by the Cayman Islands government to be scuttled in Cayman Brac as a dive attraction. The remaining two Cuban Koni II class were expended as targets. Frigate 356 was sunk upright, and initially her deck rested 90 ft (27 m) below the surface. A serious storm in 2004 broke the ship in two, and her bow now lists at a 45 degree angle, while her midships have become a debris field. Before being sunk the ship was renamed Captain Keith Tibbetts after a local politician and diver. It is one of only a few sunken Soviet Naval vessels in the Western Hemisphere, and one of only two that is easily dived, as well as her sister ship SKR-451.

Patrol Boat 383, P.B.[edit]

On July 16, 1998 the former Cuban Navy Koni II-class frigate designated 353 was scuttled in shallow water near the Cuban resort town of Varadero in the Parque Submarino Cayo Piedra del Norte as an attraction for divers. It is rumored that Fidel Castro promoted the project, being an avid diver himself. The frigate sank upright, and sits on the sand bottom in 90 ft (27 m) of water. For an unknown reason her hull number was changed from 353 to 383 prior to the scuttling.^[6] The dive operators in the Varadero area refer to the dive site as Patrol Boat 383 or simply P.B even though it is a frigate.

Original operators[edit]

• Soviet Union - 1 (to Bulgaria in 1990), Delfin was originally used for training foreign crews in the Black Sea, before being sold to the Bulgarian Navy, currently in service as Smeli (Bulgarian: Смели" ("Brave")).
• Algeria - 3, in service, being upgraded with new electronics, ASW torpedo tubes and 8 x Kh-35 Uran/SS-N-25 Switchblade anti-ship missiles
• Cuba - 3, 356 (No name) ex SKR-471 sunk as a reef, 353 (later 383) (Monkada or Moncada) ex SKR-451 sunk as a reef^[6] and 350 (Mariel) ex SKR-28 status unknown.
• East Germany / Germany - 3, two (Rostock and Halle) taken over by unified German Navy and paid off August 1991, one (Berlin - Hauptstadt der DDR) immediately put up for disposal in 1991.^[7]
• Libya - 1 (formerly 2), 4 x 406mm torpedo tubes, status unknown, damaged by bombing May 19/20 and on August 9, 2011. (Al Ghardabia). The remaining ship, Al Hani captured by National Transitional Council in Benghazi, and has become the flagship of the reorganized Libyan Navy. She has been stuck in Malta for refit since 2013.
• Yugoslavia - acquired two ships, Split (VPBR-31) and Koper (VPBR-32), during the 1980s.

See also[edit]

• List of ships of the Soviet Navy
• List of ships of Russia by project number

Citations[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Del'fin class frigate.

References[edit]

• Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen; Budzbon, Przemysław (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781557501325.
• Marinekameradschaft KSS
• PALUBAinfo Forum
• (in English) All Koni Class Frigates - Complete Ship List
• Militaryfactory.com Koni Class frigate