Caspian MRK 702
Class overview
NameMatka class (Project 206MR Vikhr)
Operators
Preceded byOsa-class missile boat
In service1977- present day
Completed12
Active1
Lost1
Retired10
Preserved1
General characteristics
TypeHydrofoil missile boat
Displacement
  • 233 tons standard
  • 257 tons full load
Length38.6 m (126 ft 8 in)
Beam7.6 m (24 ft 11 in)
Draught3.26 m (10 ft 8 in)
Propulsion3 × M503 B2 Diesels; 15,000 hp (11,000 kW) or Zvezda M504
Speed42 knots (78 km/h; 48 mph)
Range
  • 600 nautical miles (1,100 km; 690 mi) at 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
  • 1,450 nautical miles (2,690 km; 1,670 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Endurance5 days
Complement30
Sensors and
processing systems		Radar: Plank shave, Bass Tilt, SRN-207, High Pole
Armament

The Matka class is the NATO reporting name for a group of hydrofoil missile boats built for the Soviet Navy (Baltic Fleet and Black Sea Fleet). The Soviet designation was Project 206MR Vikhr. Following the 1997 Black Sea Fleet partition treaty all Black Sea Fleet Matka class boats were passed to the Ukrainian Navy

Design

These boats are the descendants of the Osa-class missile boat and are a heavily modified version of the Turya-class torpedo boat. There is only a single foil, the aft part of the hull hydroplanes at high speeds. They are air-conditioned and NBC-sealed. The SS-N-2 launchers are the same type as carried on the Project 61MR ("Mod-Kashin")-class destroyers. Despite initial reports that they were good seaboats, later information revealed that the Soviets regarded them as cramped inside and top-heavy. Of thirteen planned ships, one was cancelled and another started but never completed. All were built in Leningrad.

After the breakup of the USSR, Russia discarded many and five went to Ukraine, one of which was later transferred to Georgia after a complete refurbishment.

Project 206.6

R-44 serves as a developmental ship for the Black Sea Fleet, and was the first vessel anywhere to carry the SS-N-25 "Switchblade" missile, in two quad-canisters. These were removed in 2000 but re-installed in 2003. In 1998, the SP-521 combat data system was installed. R-44 also has the AK-630М1-2 Roy CIWS which is two 30 mm gatling guns superimposed on each other, in place of the AK-630. More recently, the ship has been seen with no "Drum Tilt" radar and a large deckhouse between the bridge and mast.

Combat usage

On 9 August 2008 during the 2008 South Ossetia war, several media outlets reported that Tbilisi had been sunk in a nighttime action, either by a SS-N-9 "Siren" (likely from a Nanuchka-class ship) or a SS-N-12 "Sandbox" (from the Slava-class cruiser Moskva) fired by the Russian navy, which was moving a flotilla into position to enforce a 50-nautical-mile (93 km; 58 mi) Total Exclusion Zone (TEZ) around the Georgian Navy's main homeport of Poti.

Tbilisi was in fact destroyed by Russian Airborne Troops on 8 August 2008 while in port at Poti. The ship lost at sea was most likely the Stenka-class patrol boat P-21 Giorgi Toreli. This would have appeared very similar on radar to a Matka-class vessel, having essentially the same hull and superstructure but different armament.

Trivia

In Russian language, the word "matka" (NATO given name) means literally "uterus". The word has also meaning "queen" (of insect hive), which is the most likely connotation, since previous missile boat classes were named Osa and Komar, meaning "wasp" and "mosquito".

Ships

A total of 12 boats were built for the Soviet Navy. A gun boat version without hydrofoils was offered for export.

Name Hull No. Commissioned Service Decommissioned Status
«Р-27»24131 December 1977Blt, Csp10 April 2002Scrapped
«Р-44»24230 September 1978Blt, BSe5 October 2008Since 2001 - Corsar («Корсар»). In 1984-85 modernised by project 2066
Scrapped
«Р-50»24330 December 1978Blt, Csp2014Since 15 August 2004 - Karachaevo-Cherkesia («Карачаево-Черкесия»)
Decommissioned. Opened 29 August 2015 as museum Pokrovskiy storozhevoy («Покровский сторожевой») in the city of Engels, Saratov Oblast
«Р-221»24430 December 1978Blt16 March 1998Scrapped
«Р-254»24510 January 1979Blt5 July 1994Scrapped
«Р-260»24621 December 1979BSe, Ukraine30 November 2004Since 10 January 1996 - Uman («Умань»)
Scrapped
«Р-262»24712 December 1980BSe, UkraineSince 10 January 1996 - Pryluky («Прилуки»)
When part of Ukrainian Navy in December 2018 the anti-ship missile launch system «Termit» was removed. In plans to have Neptune missile system installed

[1]

«Р-265»24815 November 1980BSe, Ukraine7 November 2012Since 10 January 1996 - Kakhovka («Каховка»).
Scrapped
«Р-251»24915 June 1981BSe, Ukraine30 June 2001Since 10 January 1996 - Tsyurupinsk («Цюрупінськ»)
Scrapped
«Р-15»25029 October 1981BSe, Ukraine,
Georgia		13 August 2008Since 10 January 1996 - Konotop («Конотоп»), since 30 June 1999 - Tbilisi («Тбилиси»)
Sunk by the Russian AF in the city of Poti during the 2008 war. Scrapped
«Р-25»25128 February 1983Blt, Csp2014Since 30 May 2003 - Borovsk («Боровск»)
Decommissioned. In summer of 2017 scrapped at the Dagdisel factory in Kaspiysk
«Р-30»25230 December 1983Blt, Csp2014Since 13 May 2005 - Budyonnovsk («Будённовск»)
Decommissioned. In summer of 2017 scrapped at the Dagdisel factory in Kaspiysk

Green — Preserved as a museum
Yellow — active in Ukrainian Navy
Red — decommissioned
Black — sunk

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. London: Conway Maritime. ISBN 0851776051. OCLC 34284130. Also published as Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen; Budzbon, Przemysław (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1557501327. OCLC 34267261.

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