Komar-class missile boat

Class overview

NameKomar (Project 183R)

OperatorsSoviet 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 byOsa class

SubclassesProject 183 (MTB)

Built1952-1960

In commission1952-2002

Completed112 missile boats

General characteristics

TypeMissile boat

Displacement61.5 tons standard, 66.5 tons full load

Length25.4 m (83 ft 4 in)

Beam6.24 m (20 ft 6 in)

Draught1.24 m (4 ft 1 in)

Propulsion4 shaft M-50F diesels 4,800 hp (3,600 kW)

Speed44 knots (81 km/h; 51 mph)

Range600 nmi (1,100 km; 690 mi) at 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)

Crew17 (3 officers)

Sensors & processing systemsMR-331 Rangout radar Nikhrom IFF

Armament2 × 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.
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]

Notes

Bibliography

Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. London: Conway Maritime. ISBN 0851776051. OCLC . 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 .