ONE of Russia’s most modern naval vessels, Admiral Tributs, arrived at Port Klang on a five-day stop-over visit yesterday.

The destroyer, designated by the Russian Navy as Large Anti-Submarine Warfare ship, is commanded by Cdr Andrei Kutznetsov.

The ship and its crew of 300 is on its way back to Vladivostok, Russia’s biggest Pacific Ocean port, after a three-month tour of duty in the Gulf of Aden, as part of an international operation against Somali pirates.

Apart from the destroyer, two other Russian vessels that formed the anti-piracy task-force, a tanker Boris
Butoma and salvage tug MB  99, also berthed at the port.

The task force was the third Russian contingent to be sent to the Gulf of Aden since October last year.

About 35 warships from the navies of 16 countries are currently deployed off the coast of Somalia to counter
frequent pirate attacks on vital commercial lanes.

According to the United Nations, Somali pirates carried out at least 120 attacks on ships last year.

Admiral Tributs, with its two tall masts festooned with various antennas and radars, stood out from the
rest of the merchant vessels at the port.

At 163 metres long, the ship is just 20 metres short of two football fields. It is about the height of a fourstorey
building from its keel to its tallest mast. Its widest point is about the width of two tennis courts.

Due to security concerns, only invited guests are allowed to visit the ship. This is not the first time, Admiral Tributs is in Malaysia. In 1990, the ship visited Penang before returning to Vladivostok. Admiral Tributs has been in service since 1980 and the ship has made numerous visits to Japan, India, Indonesia, South Korea, China and Singapore.

The ship’s main armaments are the SSN-14 Anti Submarine Missile and SA-N-9 surface-to-air missiles.
It is also mounted with two 100mm guns, four 30mm guns, eight torpedo tubes and two anti-submarine
mortars.

She carries two Kamov Ka-27 helicopters for reconnaissance and search missions. Admiral Tributs is powered by four gas turbines that can propel the ship up to 29 knots or 53 km/h In the 80s, the SSN-14
missile could be armed with nuclear warheads to destroy ballistic missile submarines and enemy ships.

However, since the late 90s, it is believed that the nuclear armed missiles have been retired from the Russian
Navy.

Admiral Tributs is among four Udaloy class destroyers in service with the Russian Pacific Fleet. The ship
was named after Admiral Vladimir Filippovich Tributs, a Soviet naval commander during World War II.

Twelve Udaloy class ships were built between 1980 and 1991, while a thirteenth ship built to a modified design
— designated as the Udaloy II class — followed in 1999.

However, only eight ships are still in service. The Udaloy class is generally the Soviet’s equivalent of the American Spruance class destroyers, which were also optimised for anti-submarine warfare.