MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax-AVN) - A brand new small missile ship of the Black Sea Fleet (BSF), called Serpukhov, on Wednesday left Sevastopol for deployment as part of the Russian Navy's permanent task force in the Mediterranean Sea, BSF spokesman 1st captain Vyacheslav Trukhachyov told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
"This is the Serpukhov's first deployment to a remote maritime zone. In the Mediterranean Sea, it will replace the small missile ship Zelyony Dol, which is currently executing tasks in the region," the spokesman said.
He recalled that the ship, which was built for the BSF at Zelenodolsky shipyard named after Gorky, arrived in Sevastopol in November 2015. On December 12, 2015, a St. Andrew's flag was raised in a ceremony aboard the ship.
Currently, the BSF has two small missile ships of the same project, Zelyony Dol and Serpukhov. They are the fourth and fifth ships in a series of upgraded Buyan-M ships built as part of implementation of the Navy's shipbuilding program. The new ships have an increased displacement, and are armed with a brand new long-range missile system, Kalibr-NK.