Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
The Russian Navy has deployed at least two Project 1204 Shmel armored artillery boats from the Caspian Flotilla in the Black Sea, off the shores of Mariupol city.
On June 2, photos showing the two Shmel boats conducting a patrol near the port of Mariupol surfaced online. The hull numbers on both boats were covered.
Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
The Shmel boat is armed with a D-56TS 76mm rifled anti-tank gun, a 2M-3M dual 25 mm naval machine gun, a BM-14-17 140 multiple rocket launcher and can carry up to four naval mines. Moreover, the crew are usually armed with two man-portable air-defense systems.
The Soviet-built boats, which has a displacement of 77,4 tons, has a cruising range of 320 miles at 10 knots and a top speed of 24 knots.
Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
Click to see full-size image. Via Twitter.
Mariupol was one of the main targets of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian military and the armed forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) imposed full control of the city and its strategic port on April 21, expelling Azov nationalists to the nearby Azovstal steel plant. The nationalists surrendered on May 20 after a tight siege.
The Shmel armored artillery boats were apparently deployed in the Black Sea to guard Mariupol port, which recently resumed operations as a part of the DPR.
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