I enjoy Bowser's occasionally providing us with glimpses of Pravda.ru, but besides the good natured fun, alien creatures, and hot babes, sometimes there are features of interest. The issue he points to below had a lot of information on the latest Russian arms, and what looks like a strong effort to rearm the country back to Soviet levels (as well as weaponry for the export trade), and the problems encountered in doing so for their economy. I read with particular interest the article on the latest Russian frigate, since I still retain a bit of my old interest in Naval affairs. My impressions?

The Russians were good sailors in the Cold War, and they had good ships, more than a match for ours, although they had a different design philosophy. Ship design is always a compromise, and the Soviet Navy was always primarily a defensive Navy, designed to operate close to their shores in defense of the Motherland. They went after the biggest possible bang for the buck, and their ships could handle extremely rough seas, were very heavily armed, very fast, and very versatile (ability to handle multiple missions). Pound for pound, one-on-one, they could take us on.

But they paid a price for this. Their ships did not have the flexibility (ability to handle varied conditions) or endurance of ours, they made serious compromises in damage control, range, maintainability, crew comfort, fleet coordination, mission specialization and other factors, as you would expect for a navy meant to put up a very tough fight close to their bases against unfavorable odds, but not really meant to project power worldwide. They also did not have the network of worldwide bases or underway replenishment (UNREP) capability we had.

The Yaroslav Mudry shows evidence of this philosophy to the practiced eye. Even at a glance, she is bulging with weaponry and sensors, (not to mention a helicopter) and her hull has lines more like that of a North Sea trawler than a fast frigate. For her advertised speed to be achievable, she must be all engines below decks. I wouldn't doubt that (like many Russian ships) her crew has to hot-bunk it (there are less beds than men). It also implies that her below-decks spaces are crammed with machinery, with little room to allow access for maintenance and repair activities, much less, fix battle damage. She can probably fight like a tiger, but she's got a glass jaw, and a hit almost anywhere would probably put her out of action. And she's probably not a comfortable ship. I would not want to spend a year aboard her in tropical waters chasing pirates.

The fact that the design for this brand new man-of-war is almost 20 years old speaks volumes about the Russian defense budget, as well. As an old sailor, I wish her, and her crew, the best of luck, and the sincere wish we may never meet except as friends.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090616/155268478.html