A New Boat…
By 
This is an odd story that I can’t quite wrap my mind around:
Satellite imagery shows work on the first of Russia’s Project 23900 big-deck amphibious assault ships, also known as the Ivan Rogov class, is continuing at a shipyard on the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Ukrainian forces have targeted the Zaliv yard in the past, severely damaging at least one warship.
Ukrainian outlet Defense Express called new attention to the ongoing work on the initial Ivan Rogov class ship at Zaliv yesterday, publishing a satellite image from an unspecified source it said had been taken in “spring 2025.” TWZ subsequently obtained another image from Maxar Technologies, seen at the top of this story and uncropped later on, which was captured on Nov. 17, 2024, and also highlights the progress that has been made in the past year or so. Russia has two Project 23900s on order, currently set to be named Ivan Rogov and Mitrofan Moskalenko, and a keel-laying ceremony was held at Zaliv back in 2020.
The image from Maxar and the one Defense Express obtained both show the Project 23900 amphibious assault ship very much still under construction. At the same time, the hull is dramatically more complete than it was in 2023 or even by the middle of the following year. Two large rectangular gaps are now visible, which could be for elevators to move aircraft and other materiel between the flight deck and below-deck hangars. The ship still lacks its flight deck and island.
Defense Express estimated the ship to be just under 722 feet (220 meters) long and just over 131 feet (40 meters) wide based on what can be seen in the image it published. This is in line with details on the ship’s dimensions in a 2021 report from Russia’s state-run TASS, which also said that the Ivan Rogov class design would have a draft of close to 23 feet (seven meters) and a speed of up to 24 knots. Past reports have said that the Project 23900 could have a displacement of 30,000 or 44,000 tons, either of which would put it at the high end of ships this type globally. For example, the U.S. Navy’s America class also displaces close to 44,000 tons when fully loaded. It’s unclear whether either displacement figure, as well as the expected draft, reflects the Russian ship with or without a typical combat load.
Previous reporting has also said the Project 23900s could possibly carry up to 16 helicopters, as well as six landing craft (launched and recovered via a well deck at the stern), 75 vehicles, 900 troops, and additional materiel to support amphibious operations. Official models and renderings have shown Ka-27/29-series anti-submarine warfare/armed utility and Ka-52-series attack helicopters on the deck, but the ships could potentially accommodate other types. The possibility of Russia developing a new short and/or vertical takeoff and landing capable fixed-wing combat jets to go with the Project 23900s has been raised, but there is no evidence to date of actual work on such a design. There is also a growing trend to add drones to the air wings aboard big-deck amphibious assault ships, or at least exploring doing so, globally.
It feels weird to me to be building this ship in this place at this time. Big amphibs are incredibly useful and not a bad direction for Russia to go… but surely the Russians know that if the ship gets anywhere near completion the Ukrainians are simply going to blow it up. BTW, I think everyone is happy now that the Mistrals never got delivered to Russia…
In other news:
- Looks like the Pakistanis bagged a Rafale, which is not good news for France (or India).
- Israel’s campaign against the new Syrian regime is sowing tensions…
- Who doesn’t love kleptocracy?
- Submarining is still as complicated as it’s ever been…
Photo credit: By Aksveer – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75913394