Komar-class missile boat

A Komar-class missile boat launching a Styx missile
Class overview
Name	Komar (Project 183R)
Operators	Soviet Navy   Algerian National Navy   Cuban Revolutionary Navy   Egyptian Navy   Indonesian Navy   Iraqi Navy   Myanmar Navy   Korean People's Navy   People's Liberation Army Navy   Syrian Navy   Vietnam People's Navy
Succeeded by	Osa class
Subclasses	Project 183 (MTB)
Built	1952-1960
In commission	1952-2002
Completed	112 missile boats
General characteristics
Type	Missile boat
Displacement	61.5 tons standard, 66.5 tons full load
Length	25.4 m (83 ft 4 in)
Beam	6.24 m (20 ft 6 in)
Draught	1.24 m (4 ft 1 in) [a]
Propulsion	4 shaft M-50F diesels 4,800  hp (3,600  kW)
Speed	44 knots (81 km/h; 51 mph)
Range	600  nmi (1,100 km; 690 mi) at 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Crew	17 (3 officers)
Sensors & processing systems	MR-331 Rangout radar Nikhrom IFF
Armament	2 × 25 mm 2M-3M guns in a twin gun mount (1,000 rounds) 2 × KT-67 missile launchers containing 1 P-15 Termit (SS-N-2 "Styx") anti-ship missile each

The Soviet Project 183R class, more commonly known as the Komar class, its NATO reporting name, meaning "mosquito", is a class of missile boats, the first of its kind, built in the 1950s and 1960s. Notably, they were the first to sink another ship with anti-ship missiles in 1967.

Export ships

•   Algerian National Navy - 6 boats 1967
•   People's Liberation Army Navy - 8 boats (1961) plus about 40 built under licence. The Chinese also built a steel-hulled derivative as the Type 024 class missile boat
•   Cuban Revolutionary Navy - 18 boats^{[ citation needed ]}
•   Egyptian Navy - 7 boats (1962–67), retired in the early 1990s; The Egyptian Navy built 6 derivative boats equipped with western weapons and electronics in the early 1980s as the October class
•   Indonesian Navy - 12 boats (1961–65)
•   Iraqi Navy - 3 boats (1972)
•   Myanmar Navy - 6 boats donated between 1969 and 1974, all retired between 1998 and 2002.^{[ citation needed ]}
•   Korean People's Navy - 10 boats^{[ citation needed ]}
•   Syrian Navy - 9 boats^{[ citation needed ]}
•   Vietnam People's Navy - 4 boats

Combat use

• 1967 October 21 - Egyptian Navy Komar-class missile boats sank Israeli destroyer Eilat in the first combat use of P-15 Termit anti-ship missiles. This was the first time a ship had sunk another ship using guided missiles. ^[2]
• 7 October 1973 - Two Syrian Navy Komar-class missile boats along with an Osa I-class missile boat, a K-123 torpedo boat and a T43-class minesweeper fought unsuccessfully against four Israeli Navy Sa'ar 3-class missile boats and one Sa'ar 4-class missile boat in the Battle of Latakia. Other Syrian missile boats fired missiles from within the harbor that mistakenly or due to malfunction hit civilian craft in the harbour.
• 1974 January 19 - 4 People's Liberation Army Navy Komar-class joined Battle of the Paracel Islands in Vietnam War ^{[ citation needed ]}

See also

• List of ships of the Soviet Navy
• List of ships of Russia by project number

Notes

1. Other sources have the draught being 2 m (6 ft 7 in) ^[1]

References

1. Couhat Jean. Combat Fleets of the world 1982/1983 Their Ships, Aircraft, and Armament Paris: Editions Maritimes et d'Outre-Mer, 1981 ISBN   0-87021-125-0 p. 2
2. Rabinovich, Abraham; Ward, Jeffrey L. (1988). The boats of Cherbourg. Herman Wouk Collection (Library of Congress) (First ed.). New York: Seaver Books. ISBN   978-0-8050-0680-3.

Bibliography

• Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. London: Conway Maritime. ISBN   0851776051. OCLC   34284130.
  • Also published as Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen; Budzbon, Przemysław (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN   1557501327. OCLC   34267261.

External links

• Complete Ship List of all Komar class missile boats