Four Years at Sea. Part 1 — Frigates. A Chronicle of Russian Navy Missile Carriers 2022–2026

The lead frigate of the 11356R series joined the Black Sea Fleet on 11 March 2016. Hull number 494, home port — Sevastopol, 30th Surface Ships Division. The first five years of service were a standard story for a new ship: rotations to the Mediterranean, exercises, flag-showing. In May–June 2020 Grigorovich completed the longest voyage in Black Sea Fleet history — over 24,000 nautical miles in 134 days across the Atlantic, through Suez, and into the Indian Ocean. In February 2021 it participated in the multinational exercise Aman-2021 at Karachi, after which it was the first Russian warship in modern history to call at Port Sudan.

In 2021 the ship transited the Bosphorus southbound — for another rotation to the permanent Russian Navy squadron in the Mediterranean. This proved to be Grigorovich's last passage through the Turkish straits. Eight months later, 27 February 2022, Turkey invoked Article 19 of the Montreux Convention, classifying the Russian invasion as a war and closing the Bosphorus and Dardanelles to warships of the belligerents. Grigorovich was left outside the Black Sea — with no way to return to its home base.

From this point, the ship's entire subsequent trajectory was determined by geography, not tactics. Its new anchor point was the Russian naval base at Tartus, Syria. From there Grigorovich performed the duties of the permanent squadron: patrols of the eastern Mediterranean, rotations, calls at Latakia. In April 2023 the ship went for repairs via Gibraltar, the Bay of Biscay, the English Channel, and the North Sea — to the Baltic shipyard Yantar in Kaliningrad. The Royal Navy deployed the Type-23 HMS Defender for shadowing escort. In November of the same year Grigorovich completed the same route in reverse — back to Tartus, this time escorted by HMS Richmond.

The Russian presence at Tartus had been sustained by the Assad regime. 27 November 2024, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham coalition and allied factions launched an offensive from northern Syria; eleven days later — 8 December — Damascus fell, and Assad flew to Moscow. Tartus and Hmeimim air base came under threat of seizure. Satellite imagery from Planet Labs, published by OSINT analyst MT Anderson, captured the sequence: 30 November – 1 December, Russian ships still at their berths; 3 December — the harbour already empty, the squadron had moved to the outer roadstead. On 8 December HUR MO confirmed: Grigorovich had left Tartus escorted by the cargo vessel Inzhener Trubin.[1]

After leaving Tartus the ship transferred to the Baltic Sea. Turkey will not permit a return to the Black Sea, so the new operational area became the Atlantic, the North Sea, and the Baltic. Here Grigorovich remains the only surface Caliber carrier of the Black Sea Fleet operating outside the Black Sea — and it is this that gave rise to its most significant episode of 2026.

That morning Leningrad Oblast suffered the largest drone attack since the start of the war — Governor Alexander Drozdenko reported strikes on “industrial and military facilities,” and the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed the destruction of 51 UAVs over the region. Pulkovo airport halted operations. The main naval parade in St. Petersburg, held annually since 2017, was cancelled in advance — officially for security reasons. It was the first cancellation in eight years.

Admiral Grigorovich, which had transferred to the Baltic after leaving Tartus, was at Kronstadt following 20 months of operational deployment in the Mediterranean. According to Russian media, the frigate participated in repelling the attack alongside ground-based air defences and the forces of the Leningrad Naval Base. That evening Vladimir Putin arrived in Kronstadt and boarded the ship.

The President spoke with the crew over tea, thanking them for “successfully repelling the drone attack.” Aksionov reported that during the ship's operational deployment it had covered over 87,000 nautical miles. This was followed by a public promotion of the commander:

This was the episode Russian state media made the centrepiece of Navy Day 2025. Instead of the traditional parade — the President on a warship's deck, a commander, a repelled attack, and a live promotion.

The Telegraph published footage taken from the auxiliary vessel RFA Tideforce: Admiral Grigorovich was transiting the English Channel precisely between two sanctioned tankers. Universal, sailing under the Russian flag, had departed from Vysotsk; Enigma, flying the Cameroonian flag, had loaded at Ust-Luga. The British Type-23 frigate HMS Richmond was escorting the Russians in the North Sea. None of the vessels were stopped.[2]

A month earlier, Prime Minister Keir Starmer had publicly stated his intention to “push harder on the shadow fleet.” Grigorovich's passage between the two tankers in a combat escort configuration was the first recorded instanceof Moscow deploying a warship in such an arrangement. The Kremlin officially characterised the operation as “protecting Russian shipping from piracy” in international waters.

Throughout spring 2026, the Russian military frigate Admiral Grigorovich continued to appear off the British coast and escort tankers of Russia's so-called shadow fleet, despite London's promises to increase pressure on Russian shipping. According to British media, since April Admiral Grigorovich has escorted more than a dozen Russian tankers, auxiliary vessels, and one submarine through the waters around Great Britain.

Grigorovich remains in service — it is the only one of the three Project 11356R frigates that had not been struck in combat by May 2026. The paradox is that the price of this intact condition is the complete inability to fulfil its primary purpose — missile strikes against Ukrainian targets from the Black Sea.

The second frigate of the series joined the Black Sea Fleet on 7 June 2016 with hull number 490. Named after Nikolai von Essen — an admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy and commander of the Baltic Fleet during the First World War. Before the full-scale invasion Essen was based primarily at Sevastopol and performed routine Mediterranean rotation duties. The most notable combat episode before 2022 were Caliber launches against ISIS positions in Syria in September 2017 — the first confirmed combat launches of cruise missiles from a ship of this series.

On the first day of the full-scale invasion, Essen together with the cruiser Moskva approached Snake Island (Odesa Oblast). An ultimatum was transmitted over radio demanding the garrison lay down its arms. The recording, published by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, became one of the iconic artefacts of the war:

Ukrainian Wikipedia and official Ukrainian Navy materials indicate the ultimatum was read from Admiral Essen, not from the cruiser Moskva. Both ships took part in the seizure of the island — 13 Ukrainian border guards and naval personnel were taken captive, later exchanged.

On 29 March 2022 a Russian cruise missile struck the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration building. The impact punched through the structure and several floors collapsed. 37 people were killed and over 30 wounded. Five months later the Ukrainian monitoring organisation Truth Hounds published an investigation attributing the strike to a specific ship — Admiral Essen. The team identified not only the ship but the officers who directly executed the launch: frigate commander Captain 2nd rank Alexander Smirnov and the commander of the missile-artillery combat unit, Senior Lieutenant Anatoly Peretyatko.[3]

In early April 2022, Admiral Essen as part of a Russian naval group approached the Ukrainian coastline off Tendra Spit. The Ukrainian Navy fired a Neptune anti-ship missile. This was the first-ever combat use of the Neptune — the system that, eleven days later on 14 April, would sink the cruiser Moskva.

The missile did not strike the hull directly. The explosion occurred near the ship, damaging weapon systems; there were several killed aboard. Essen urgently returned to Sevastopol for repairs. The first official confirmation came in February 2023 from Captain 1st rank Stepan Yakimyak. The full reconstruction of the episode appeared in an interview given by the Commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa, to Ukrainska Pravda:[4]

On 19 June 2023 a Planet Labs satellite image captured Admiral Essen at Sevastopol with new paintwork: dark patches on the bow and stern of the hull. Essen became the first ship of the 11356R series to receive such camouflage.[5] As events in 2026 would show, the camouflage did not save it.

In autumn 2023 Sevastopol ceased to be a safe base. On 13 September, Storm Shadow cruise missiles struck the large landing ship Minsk and the diesel submarine Rostov-on-Don at the Sevastopol Maritime Plant. On 22 September — a Storm Shadow strike on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters. Planet Labs imagery from 1–3 October 2023, published by MT Anderson, records the arrival of two frigates at Novorossiysk port — Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov. This was the largest change of basing in the Black Sea Fleet during the full-scale war.

In the night of 2 March 2026, Ukraine's Security Forces and Defence Forces conducted a combined strike against the Novorossiysk naval base. Admiral Essen took a hit to the midship superstructure; secondary detonations followed. Confirmed damage to the PK-10 decoy system, TK-25 EW system, MR-90 and Fregat-M2M radars. A fire on deck burned for approximately 18 hours.[6]

In the night of 6 April, Ukraine's Security Forces and Defence Forces struck the Sheskharis terminal and ships directly in the Novorossiysk naval base. According to OSINT analysis by CyberBoroshno based on satellite imagery taken on 7 April, Admiral Essen was struck in the bow section — in the area of the 100mm A-190 gun mount. In the same zone below the waterline sits the MHK-335M Platina hydroacoustic complex: damage to it would deprive the ship of submarine detection capability. The OSINT identification of Essen — as opposed to the neighbouring Makarov — was based on a distinctive feature: the radar antennas on Essen are painted white, while those on Makarov are grey.

In the night of 23 May 2026, the 1st Separate Centre of the Unmanned Systems Forces delivered the fourth confirmed strike against Admiral Essen at Novorossiysk. Several kamikaze drones attacked the frigate in the hull near deck level; the ship attempted to intercept them with its Osa-M surface-to-air missile system. The operation was part of the UAS Forces' 48-hour massed “Birds” raid on Novorossiysk port — alongside strikes on the Sheskharis oil terminal and the Grushova Balka oil storage facility. UAS Forces Commander Robert 'Magyar' Brovdi personally confirmed the strike: “You are doomed to sink, there is nowhere to hide.”[12]

The third and last frigate of the 11356R series joined the Black Sea Fleet on 27 December 2017 with hull number 499. Before the full-scale invasion Makarov was on routine service at Sevastopol. That changed on 14 April 2022 — the day Moskva sank in the Black Sea.

On 14 April 2022 two Ukrainian Neptune missiles struck the cruiser Moskva — flagship of the Black Sea Fleet. The cruiser sank; among the dead was commanding officer Anton Kuprin. The flagship status passed to Admiral Makarov — by residual default. Among the BSF's combat-ready ships it was the most capable and newest vessel with long-range missile armament: 8 Caliber launch cells.

On 18 October 2022 Admiral Makarov carried out a precision cruise missile strike (Caliber-NK) against the Prydniprovska thermal power station in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. In April 2026 the SBU filed a notice of suspicion in absentia against Captain 1st rank Volodymyr Kuzmin — commander of the 30th Surface Ships Division of the BSF. Following the strike, the Kremlin promoted Kuzmin to the rank of rear admiral.[7]

At 4:20 a.m. on 29 October 2022, a combined force of 9 aerial and 7 naval unmanned vehicles attacked Black Sea Fleet ships at Sevastopol. This was the first joint operation in history by the Ukrainian Navy and SBU using exclusively unmanned systems. Three naval drones headed for the outer roadstead where Admiral Makarov was anchored.

The Russian side officially acknowledged damage to the minesweeper Ivan Golubets, but made no statement about a strike on Makarov. OSINT analyst Benjamin Pittet published imagery of Sevastopol Bay showing the frigate under tow in open water.[8]

Planet Labs imagery from 1–3 October 2023, published by MT Anderson, recorded the arrival of Admiral Makarov and Admiral Essen at Novorossiysk port.

In the night of 2 March 2026, Ukraine's Security Forces and Defence Forces conducted a combined strike against Novorossiysk. Among the ships struck were Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov. However, notwithstanding official statements regarding damage to Makarov, corroborating evidence from satellite imagery and other open sources could not be confirmed.

Less than a month later, in the night of 6 April, operators of the 1st Separate Centre of the Unmanned Systems Forces struck the Sheskharis terminal at Novorossiysk. According to Exilenova+ assessment, the frigate was struck at least twice: the first hit — in the area of the UKSK 3S14 vertical launch cells; the second — on port infrastructure nearby. Admiral Makarov attempted to defend itself — Shtil-1 SAM launches were fired from the ship. They did not stop the drones.[9]

The lead ship of the series, flagship of the Caspian Flotilla since 2003 — as per official Russian media. Armament: Uran anti-ship system with Kh-35 missiles (two quad-tube KT-184 launchers, 8 missiles total; in the Kh-35U variant range increases to 260 km). Kh-35 missiles are anti-ship missiles with a 145 kg warhead, designed to strike surface targets. They are poorly suited for attacks against land infrastructure, and their range does not allow reaching Ukraine from the Caspian. Tatarstan physically cannot be a source of missile strikes against Ukraine. RIA Novosti in November 2022 incorrectly referred to Tatarstan as a Caliber carrier — a common misconception in Russian media.

The attack was carried out by ultralight A-22 Flying Fox drones that covered approximately 1,500 kilometres. According to HUR MO sources, at least two objects in Kaspiysk port were struck, identified as Tatarstan and Dagestan. ISW noted that imagery did not allow unambiguous identification of damage specifically to the frigates — one vessel of the Gepard class was visible, along with three Buyany, two Buyan-Ms and a Tarantul-class boat.[11] Governor Melikov reported only the “destruction of a UAV by air defences”; Makhachkala airport was suspended. The fact that within a month Tatarstan had departed on an extended voyage calling at Aktau allows the damage to be assessed as non-critical.

As part of a naval strike group, Tatarstan conducted live-fire exercises against surface and air targets. Separately, the destruction of unmanned surface boats using heavy-calibre machine guns was practised — a direct acknowledgement that the flotilla is deliberately preparing for further Ukrainian naval drone strikes.

Laid down in 1991, launched on 1 April 2011. 17 September 2012 — a successful test launch of the 3M14 long-range cruise missile from Dagestan: the first such launch from a surface ship in Russian Navy history.

ArmamentWhat Makes Dagestan Unique

Dagestan is the first Russian Navy ship equipped with the UKSK 3S14 vertical launch system for 8 missiles. The UKSK can employ:

• 3M14 — long-range cruise missile for strikes against land targets. These are the missiles used against Ukraine.
• 3M54 — anti-ship missile with a supersonic terminal stage.
• 91R — anti-submarine rocket-torpedo.

Putin's birthday. That night, Dagestan and three Buyan-Ms fired 26 Caliber-NK cruise missiles at 11 ISIS targets in Syria. The missiles flew over 1,500 km above Iran and Iraq. This was the first strike in Russian Navy history against a real adversary using surface ship-fired long-range cruise missiles.

Following the terrorist attack against the Russian airliner over Sinai, the same strike group — Dagestan and three Buyan-Ms — fired 18 Caliber-NK missiles at 7 targets in the provinces of Raqqa, Idlib, and Aleppo.

British military intelligence and Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk confirmed the use of the Caspian Flotilla for strikes against Ukraine in 2022 and sporadically in 2023–2024. Defense Express assessed the most likely period of active launches as April–May 2024. The first documented video confirmation of Calibers flying over the Caspian appeared on 8 July 2024— the day of the strike on Kyiv's Okhmatdyt hospital; on the same day a missile that went off course fell and exploded in Kalmykia. Whether Dagestan specifically launched has not been publicly confirmed, but it is the only frigate in the flotilla technically capable of doing so.

The first and only documented Ukrainian UAV attack in which Dagestan figured among the probable targets. OSINT researcher MT_Anderson published imagery showing the dispersal of the Caspian Flotilla — “the surviving ships were scattered across the sea.”