New Russian warship crosses Bosphorus en route to Mediterranean

ISTANBUL

DHA Photo

A Russian warship traversed Turkey's Bosphorus en route to the eastern Mediterranean near the Syrian coast earlier this morning. The 114-meter ship Smetlivy possesses missile destroyer systems.

Three other Russian warships passed through the Bosphorus on Sept. 5.The SSV-201 intelligence ship Priazovye, accompanied by the two landing ships Minsk and Novocherkassk passed through the Bosphorus.

Smetlivy is a Kashin-class guided missile destroyer of the Russian Navy. Ordered by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, Smetlivy was laid down in July 1966 and commissioned into the Soviet Black Sea Fleet in 1969. In 1990 the ship was laid up for repairs and modification. She became part of the Russian Navy after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The ship returned to service in 1995, now armed with the more modern SS-N-25 Switchblade missile system. In 2009 the ship was again laid up for repairs, returning to service in mid-2011 and being involved in Russian-Italian naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea. As of 2013 the Smetlivy is the last Kashin-class destroyer in service with the Russian Navy.