Vice-Admiral Kulakov – Pennant 626 Project 1155 Udaloy Class Destroyer assigned to the 2nd Anti-Submarine Ship Division of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy.

The Udaloy class are a series of anti-submarine guided missile destroyers. There are currently 7 x in service with the Russian Navy. The ships complement the Sovremenny-class destroyers in anti-aircraft and anti-surface warfare operations.

Vice-Admiral Kulakov was commissioned in December 1981 and was in service until March 1991 when she was retired for repairs which lasted more than 18 years. The destroyer has the capability of hosting a Ka-52K helicopter on the rear deck.

The Udaloy class destroyer measures 163.5m in length, 19.3m beam, and draught 7.5m. The flight deck for the Ka-52K measures 20m length and 18m width capable of accommodating 1 helicopter. The ship can travel at a top speed of 29kt (53.7km/h, 33.4mph) and has a range of 2,600 n miles (4,815.2km/2,992 miles) at top speed and 7,700 n miles (14,260.4km/8,861 miles) at 18kt (33.3km/h, 20.7mph). The Udaloy has a complement of 249 crew and 29 officers.

Key vessel armaments:

- 2 x 4 SS-N-14 (Silex) anti submarine/ship missiles. The missile carries an underslung anti-submarine torpedo which is dropped above the suspected submarine location. The torpedo searches and homes in on the submarine. Operational range of 10-90km verses a ship and 5-50km versus a submarine. Maximum depth of 20-500m. Maximum speed Mach 0.95, 290m/s, (650mph). The missile is controlled by radio command via helicopter or other external guidance plus an infrared seeker. This missile has been superseded by the SS-N-15 (Starfish).

- 4 x vertical launchers for SA-N-9 (Gauntlet) SAM. Known as the Tor, this missile is an all-weather low to medium altitude, short-range surface-to-air missile system. The naval variant was developed under the name 3K95 ‘Kinzhal’. The missile measures 2.895m length and spans 0.65m, weighs 165kg at launch and has a max speed of Mach 2.5. Minimum range of 0.5 n miles (0.9km, 0.6 miles), max range of 6.5 n miles (12km, 7.5 miles).