Article Posted on : - Mar 28, 2011

Missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov.

MOSCOW (BNS): Russian Navy is planning to reassign its missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov from Northern Fleet to Pacific Fleet, a media report said.

Currently, the cruiser is preparing for medium repairs in Northern fleet.

"In two years, the cruiser may be transferred from Severomorsk to Vladivostok to reinforce the grouping of the Pacific Fleet's surface ships," RIA Novosti quoted a Russian Navy admiral as saying.

"Navy's main headquarters was considering this possibility, although a final decision had not yet been made," he added.

The RFS Marshal Ustinov is a Slava-class cruiser of the Russian Navy. The ship was launched in 1982 and in 1986 it was commissioned with Russian Northern Fleet.

The Marshal Ustinov cruiser has been designed as a surface strike ship with some anti-air and ASW capability and it is fitted with sixteen SS-N-12 Sandbox nuclear-capable supersonic anti-ship missiles, which are mounted in four pairs on either side of the superstructure.

In addition, the cruiser reportedly carries 64 SA-N-6 Grumble long-range surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and 40 SA-N-4 Gecko short-range SAMs, it said.