Russian frigate Admiral Essen

Admiral Essen is a frigate of the Admiral Grigorovich class of the Russian Navy named in honour of Admiral Nikolai Ottovich von Essen. The ship construction begun at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad in July 2011, and it was launched in November 2014.^[6] It is based with the Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol.

Admiral Essen in 2016
History
Russia
Name	Admiral Essen
Namesake	Nikolai Essen
Builder	Yantar Shipyard
Laid down	8 July 2011[1][2]
Launched	7 November 2014[3]
Commissioned	7 June 2016[4]
Identification	751
Status	Active
General characteristics
Class and type	Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate
Displacement	Standard: 3,620 tons Full: 4,035 tons[citation needed]
Length	124.8 m (409 ft)
Beam	15.2 m (50 ft)
Draught	4.2 m (14 ft)
Propulsion	2 shaft COGAG; 2 DS-71 cruise gas turbines 8,450 shp (6,300 kW); 2 DT-59 boost gas turbines 22,000 shp (16,000 kW) ; Total: 60,900 shp (45,400 kW)
Speed	30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range	4,850 nmi (8,980 km; 5,580 mi) at 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Endurance	30 days
Complement	200
Sensors and processing systems	Air search radar: Fregat M2M Surface search radar: 3Ts-25 Garpun-B, MR-212/201-1, Nucleus-2 6000A Fire control radar: JSC 5P-10 Puma FCS, 3R14N-11356 FCS, MR-90 Orekh SAM FCS
Electronic warfare & decoys	EW Suite: TK-25-5; Countermeasures: 4 × KT-216
Armament	1 × 100 mm A-190 Arsenal naval gun 8 (2 × 4) UKSK VLS cells for Kalibr, Oniks or Zircon anti-ship/cruise missiles[5] 24 (2 × 12) 3S90M VLS cells for 9M317M surface-to-air-missiles 2 × AK-630 CIWS 8 × Igla-S or Verba 2 × double 533 mm torpedo tubes 1 × RBU-6000 rocket launcher
Aircraft carried	1 × Ka-27 series helicopter
Aviation facilities	Helipad and hangar for one helicopter

Service

Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war

Main article: Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war

In May and September 2017, in the course of the Russian military campaign in Syria, Admiral Essen fired Kalibr cruise missile at targets in the Hama and Deir ez-Zor regions, respectively.^[7]

On 25 August 2018, the Black Sea Fleet reported Admiral Essen, along with its sister ship Admiral Grigorovich, were making a "planned passage from Sevastopol to the Mediterranean Sea" to join the Russian Navy's Mediterranean task force.^[8]

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Main article: 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Mykolaiv regional council building partially destroyed by cruise missiles launched from Admiral Essen on 29 March 2022

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the ship was involved in cruise missile strikes against Odesa.^[9]

On 29 March 2022, two Kalibr cruise missiles launched from the ship destroyed the regional council building in Mykolaiv.^[10]

According to an advisor to the Ukrainian President's Office, Oleksiy Arestovich, on 3 April 2022 the ship was allegedly seriously damaged by Ukrainian Armed Forces as a result of an attack using an initially unspecified weapon system, later reported as being a R-360 Neptune anti-ship cruise missile.^{[11][unreliable source?][12]}

On 12 April 2022, Russian Defence Ministry released a video showing Admiral Essen allegedly destroying a Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) off the coast of Crimea, using two missiles of the Shtil-1 surface-to-air missile system. No video of an impact or wreckage were provided.^[13][14]

Sometime between 1 and 3 October 2023, Admiral Essen was transferred - along with Admiral Makarov - to Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Krai.^[15]