RFS Sposobny

Excluding USSRS Sposobny (1940), (1950), there aren't any others.

## RFS Sposobny (1970)

RFS Sposobny

***Sposobny*** (Russian: Способный, "Capable") was a Project 61 (NATO reporting name Kashin-class) destroyer of the Soviet Navy, which briefly became part of the Russian Navy. The ship served during the Cold War from 1971 to 1989.

She served with the Pacific Fleet for the duration of her career, often operating in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific in order to show the flag. *Sposobny* cruised in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans during 1973–1974, 1983, and 1985, punctuated by a 1976 goodwill visit to Vancouver, Canada, and active support to Vietnam during the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War. A planned modernization in 1987 at the Sevastopol Marine Plant in Ukraine was never completed due to the fall of the Soviet Union and she was transferred to the Russian Navy despite a failed Ukrainian attempt to take control. Sold to the shipyard to pay off debts, the destroyer was decommissioned in 1993 before being sold for scrap two years later.

### Career

Built in the 61 Communards Shipyard in Nikolayev with the serial number 1713, the destroyer was laid down on 10 March 1969, launched on 11 April 1970, and completed on 25 September 1971. *Sposobny* was added to the Navy List on 25 April 1970.

Assigned to the Pacific Fleet on 27 October, she departed Sevastopol under the command of Captain 3rd rank G. Kudryavtsev on 15 February 1972. After passing the Cape of Good Hope she reached the Pacific Fleet base at Vladivostok on 26 August and joined the 175th Missile Ship Brigade of the fleet's 10th (Pacific) Operational Squadron. Between 17 and 24 December 1973, as part of a detachment of the fleet with command ship *Admiral Senyavin* and a Project 641 submarine, under the flag of First Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet *Kontr-admiral* Vladimir Maslov, the destroyer visited Port Louis, Mauritius. On the return voyage *Admiral Senyavin* and *Sposobny* visited Bombay between 9 and 15 February 1974.

As part of a fleet detachment with *Udaloy*-class destroyer *Gnevny* and the tanker *Ilim* under the flag of squadron commander *Kontr-admiral* Vladimir Varganov, she visited Vancouver, Canada from 25 to 30 August 1976, being open to public viewing. The visit was part of an exchange program that was reciprocated by the visit of Canadian warships to Leningrad later that year, although anti-whaling and anti-Soviet demonstrations were made against the ships; the visit was the first since 1944. With a detachment of warships and in cooperation with anti-submarine aircraft she participated in anti-submarine exercises on 26 August 1977. Alongside *Admiral Senyavin*, the cruisers *Vasily Chapayev* and *Admiral Fokin*, destroyers *Strogy* and *Bozbuzhdenny*, and the frigate *Razyashchiy*, she supported Vietnam during the Sino-Vietnamese War between February and March 1979. Operating in the South China Sea, the ships intercepted Chinese battlefield communications and passed them on to Vietnamese forces.

Transferred to the 201st Anti-Submarine Warfare Brigade in 1982, *Sposobny* twice operated in the Sea of Japan that year, tracking American ships. Between 9 and 13 June 1983, with a fleet detachment of the 8th (Indian Ocean) Operational Squadron that also included the frigate *Grozyashchiy* and the tanker *Pechenga* under the flag of squadron commander *Kontr-admiral* Gennady Semyonov, she made an official visit to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The destroyer operated in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean in 1985, receiving an excellent rating for her performance.

On 16 July 1987, she was temporarily transferred to the Black Sea Fleet and on 30 July delivered to the Sevastopol Marine Plant for repairs and modernization as prototype for Project 01090 prior to transfer to the Northern Fleet. As the work began, the design for the modernization was changed to Project 01091. The modernization was to be completed by 30 September 1989, and differed only from the Project 01090 modernization of her sister ship *Smetlivy* in that she was to receive experimental nonacoustic submarine detection equipment instead of the Kaira sonar that *Smetlivy* was given. To provide space for the equipment the aft gun turret was to be removed and the complex was to be installed at the stern helicopter pad, with two sponsons for lowering towed antennas. The modernization was 70% complete by the fall of the Soviet Union.

Due to the fall of the Soviet Union, the modernization was not completed, and on 29 October 1992 the transfer to the Black Sea Fleet was made permanent. This followed an unsuccessful Ukrainian attempt to raise the Ukrainian flag over the ship on 3 July after the crew took the oath of allegiance to Ukraine; the ship remained under Russian control. She was removed from the Navy list on 6 January 1993, and to pay off the navy's debts to the shipyard she was transferred to the ownership of the Sevastopol Marine Plant. Relocated from the North Dock to Yuzhnaya Bay to remove weapons and equipment, she was stripped by 20 November, when the crew was disbanded and the ship became property of the plant. The hull was sold to an Indian company for scrapping and was towed away from Sevastopol on 2 April 1995.

During her career, *Sposobny* was assigned the temporary tactical numbers 522 (in 1971), 109 (in 1973), 547 (in 1982), 544 (in 1982), and 578 (in 1987).