KALININGRAD. July 8 (Interfax) - The Yantar Shipyard, which is a part of Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation, has laid a keel for the Sergei Kabanov large landing ship of Project 11711, the shipyard's press service said in a statement on Tuesday.
The solemn ceremony took place at the assembly workshop where a plaque bearing the ship's name was mounted on its first sections. The ship is named after a Soviet military chief who distinguished himself during WWII.
The Russian Defense Ministry ordered the construction of the Sergei Kabanov with the factory number 305 for the Northern Fleet. It is set to become the Russian Navy's largest by displacement.
The Yantar Shipyard is currently building two other large landing ships of the same project, the Vasily Trushin and the Vladimir Andreyev with the factory numbers 303 and 304, respectively.
"In all, the Sergei Kabanov will be a fifth large landing ship of Project 11711 built at the Yantar Shipyard. Earlier, the shipyard delivered two large landing ships, the Ivan Gren and the Pyotr Morgunov, to the Russian Navy. However, the ships currently under construction are built under an updated design of the Nevsky Design Bureau. Their architecture is substantially different, in particular, they have a vast flight deck for helicopters in the stern," the press service said.
The large landing ship is designed to carry about 15 tanks or about 35 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, as well as a marine battalion. The ship is armed with two AK-630 and AK-630M-2 artillery systems. The deck can host a Kamov Ka-27 search and rescue helicopter or a Ka-29 transport and combat helicopter.