Russian landing ship Nikolai Vilkov

Nikolai Vilkov (Russian: Николай Вилков) is a Tapir-class landing ship of the Russian Navy and part of the Pacific Fleet.

History
Russia
Name	Nikolai Vilkov
Namesake	Nikolai Vilkov [ru]
Builder	Yantar Shipyard, Kaliningrad
Yard number	303
Laid down	3 September 1971
Launched	30 November 1973
Commissioned	30 July 1974
Homeport	Vladivostok
Identification	Hull number 500 (1974) 504 (1974) 357 (1974-1977) 388 (1977) 022 (1977) 053 (1977-1980) 075 (1980-1981) 078 (1981-1984) 066 (1984-1987) 070 (1987-1990) 068 (1990-1992) 089 (1992-1993) 081 (1993-present)
Status	In service
General characteristics
Class & type	Tapir-class landing ship
Displacement	3,400 tons standard 4,360–4,700 tons full load
Length	112.8–113.1 m (370 ft 1 in – 371 ft 1 in)
Beam	15.3–15.6 m (50 ft 2 in – 51 ft 2 in)
Draft	4.5 m (14 ft 9 in)
Propulsion	2 diesels, 2 shafts, 9,000 bhp (6,700 kW)
Speed	16–18 knots (30–33 km/h)
Capacity	1,000 tons
Troops	300–425 troops and 20 tanks, or 40 AFVs, or 1,000 tons
Crew	55
Armament	Missiles: 1 × 122 mm naval Grad bombardment rocket launcher in some, 3 × SA-N-5 SAM positions in some.[1] Guns: 1 dual 57 mm/70 cal DP, 2 dual 25 mm AA in some.[1] 2 × 7 55 mm MRG-1 Ogonyok multi-barrel rocket grenade launchers (RG-55 grenades)

Named after petty officer first class Nikolai Vilkov [ru], a posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union killed in action during the Second World War, the ship was built in Kaliningrad. She is classified as a BDK (Russian: БДК) for Russian: Большой десантный корабль, romanized: Bolshoy desantnyi korabl', lit. 'large landing ship'. She is one of the Tapir class designated Project 1171/IV by the Russian Navy, with the NATO reporting name Alligator.

Construction and commissioning

Nikolai Vilkov was built by Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad, being laid down on 3 September 1971 and launched on 30 November 1973.^[2] She was commissioned into the Soviet Navy on 30 July 1974 as part of its Pacific Fleet. She was named in honour of petty officer first class Nikolai Vilkov [ru], a posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union killed in action at the Battle of Shumshu during the Second World War.^[3] She was homeported in Vladivostok Naval Base [ru], and with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late December 1991, she went on to serve in the Russian Navy.^[4]

Career

Nikolai Vilkov was several times deployed with fleet units on long-distance voyages, carrying out seven missions to the Indian Ocean and visiting Ethiopia, the Persian Gulf, Vietnam, and Okinawa.^[3] She was at Aden during the South Yemen civil war, when she was fired upon, necessitating the deployment of tanks.^[3] She was again attacked, this time by pirates, while sailing in the South China Sea at night, having been mistaken for a civilian cargo ship. She returned fire, driving the pirates off.^[3] She took part in joint US-UK-French naval exercises in the Persian Gulf in January 1994, and in autumn that year delivered relief supplies to the South Kuril Islands after the 1994 Kuril Islands earthquake.^[4] In 2014, she was one of the ships at the Navy Day naval parade in Vladivostok.^[4]

In August 2018, she and the Ropucha-class landing ship Peresvet carried out exercises in Desantnaya Bay, loading and unloading BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery units, and a marine battalion. The landing ships were part of exercises involving six warships and 300 marines.^[5] She carried out further exercises in October that year with Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoy.^[6] In March 2019, she carried out gunnery and landing exercises.^[7] Further exercises were held in March 2020, with the Ropucha-class landing ship Oslyabya, and then again in June with Oslyabya, Admiral Nevelskoy, Peresvet in Providence Bay, supported by the hydrographic ship Sever and the ocean-going tug MB-61.^[8][9]

In mid-2020, Nikolai Vilkov deployed on a five-month training voyage from Vladivostok with three other large landing ships, Admiral Nevelskoy, Oslyabya, and Peresvet. The ships travelled more than 23 thousand nautical miles over 158 days, carrying out a number of exercises, before returning to Vladivostok on 12 November 2020.^[10] In May 2024 she deployed with Oslyabya and Peresvet in Desantnaya Bay near Vladivostok to practice loading and unloading BTR-82A armoured personnel carriers and BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles. Some 300 servicemen and 30 vehicles were involved.^[11] She carried out more gunnery exercises with Admiral Nevelskoy in November 2021, and with Admiral Nevelskoy and Oslyabya in March 2022.^[12][13] There were further exercises in January and March 2023, and in August she led a detachment of vessels to Zarubino, Primorsky Krai to evacuate holidaymakers from Khasansky District who had been cut off by heavy rains.^[14] Together with the hydrographic vessel GS-84, the fire boat PZhK-1514, the diving support boat VM-20 and the harbour tug RB-404, 1,074 people and 34 cars were evacuated from the port of Zarubino and transported to Vladivostok.^[15] Nikolai Vilkov returned to exercises throughout the early part of 2024, and again in November that year.^[16][17]