Not a "rusty trough" at all: could the ships of the Russian Navy catch up with the British "Defender"

Simonyan, speaking on Solovyov's talk show, told how the English-speaking viewers of the RT channel reacted to the incident with the "shelling" of the British warship "Defender" off the coast of Crimea, which he approached during his sea voyage. Simonyan admitted that she was "amazed" by the advice of the British, which they gave to the Russian military: "Yes, you sink this rusty vessel!"

Without going into details about who and how makes such comments in the propaganda media, let us give the opinion of expert Dmitry Shulgin about the “rusty vessel”, that is, “Defender”, especially in comparison with the ships of the Russian Navy:

“Let's start with facts. British class 45 destroyer, or class Daring, HMS Defender (D36) has a displacement of 8,500 tons. Gas turbine engines allow it to reach a maximum speed of over 30 knots (over 56 km / h).

The ship was commissioned on March 21, 2013. During operation, the command had complaints about the propulsion systems of the Daring-class destroyers, which overheated at high temperatures, and the British needed to use these ships in the Arabian Gulf. Therefore, Type 45 destroyers have been upgraded.

In particular, our HMS Defender (D36) returned to service in April 2018 after a major 20 month refurbishment in Portsmouth. Therefore, when it is indicated that its maximum speed is now over 30 knots (over 56 km / h), I believe it.

Project 22460 Okhotnik Russian patrol ships, which intercepted a British destroyer, have the following capabilities: patrol speed - 10 knots (18.5 km / h), cruising speed - 21 knots (38.9 km / h), maximum speed - 28 knots (51.8 km / h). If you believe the laws of physics and the official characteristics of the ships, then the Russian patrol ships could not catch up with the British destroyer.

Let's assume that the ships of Project 22460 "Hunter" have a "secret warp drive" that would allow them to catch up with the destroyer. The total displacement of the Project 22460 "Okhotnik" ship is 750 tons. And they would go to ram a destroyer with a displacement of 8500 tons? Suppose that patrol ships are hung with armored plates and can go to ram, but then they would float at the speed of battleships of the 20s of the last century. Further, the ships of the project 22460 "Okhotnik" are armed with anti-aircraft guns, which are not intended to combat large surface ships (they are in the video firing from the AK-630 gun into the nebushko - the maximum range is 4000 m). The only weapons they could use against the destroyer are two 14.5-mm MTPU machine-gun mountings with a firing range of up to 2000 m.And the British destroyer has a 114-mm universal naval gun mount with a firing range of 27.5 km.

Of course, the Black Sea Fleet has other ships as well. Let's take a look at them.

The flagship missile cruiser Moskva, according to official figures, has a speed of 32 knots, although this ship was commissioned in 1982. In July 2020, the cruiser left the dock with "an overhauled engine, replacement of diesel generators and RTS systems." In theory, he could try to catch up with the HMS Defender (D36). But ... but ... but ... The quality of the Russian repair work is in serious doubt. But what if the cruiser's boilers were blown off from overheating? Yes, and withdrawing a flagship cruiser against one destroyer would be a loss of face for the fleet.

There are also patrol ships of project 1135 "Burevestnik" (commissioned in 1981 and 1982, displacement - 3200 tons). According to official figures, they have a speed of 32 knots, but read the long and tedious history of their repair, and you will have the same doubts as about the cruiser "Moskva".

The frigates of project 11356R "Burevestnik" (displacement - 4000 tons) have a speed of 30 knots - again not enough.

It seems to me that the Russians threw those ships against the destroyer that they could quickly “raise the alarm”. The ships of the project 22460 "Hunter" are modern patrol ships commissioned from 2009 to 2018. The authorities rightly assumed that they could withstand the race with the English destroyer for at least some time, and the command did not want to take out the old troughs in order to demonstrate a disgrace to the whole world (remember the old Kuzyu smokestack?). It was a perfectly reasonable decision.

It turns out that it is not so easy to butt with NATO in practice..."