Sloviansk
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The Sloviansk was a small patrol vessel, operated by the Ukranian Navy, that Russia reported it destroyed, in March 2022.[1]
The vessel had been built for the United States Coast Guard, as part of its Island class cutters.[1] The US Coast Guard operated the vessel as the USCGC Cushing from 1988 until 2017. In 2018 she was refurbished, and provided to Ukraine.[2]
As built for the USCG she was powered by two diesel engines that gave her a maximum speed of 25 knots. She was armed with a 25 mm autocannon, and a pair of Browning M2 fifty caliber machine guns. She was designed to be operated by a crew of two officers and 14 enlisted sailors.
She was disarmed before she was transferred. In Ukrainian service her American built 25mm autocannon was replaced with a Soviet-era 25mm autocannon.[3] Defense commentator Chuck Hill noted that, while the Soviet weapon had a higher rate of fire, and fired a heavier projectile, the gun lacked stabilization, optics, or computer aids to aiming.[4]
On September 27, 2018, the Cushing was formally transferred to Ukraine, after herr retirement.[2] The actual transfer took place in 2019, after some maintenance, and training of their Ukrainian crews.
On March 6, 2022, the mayor of Yuzhny, Volodymyr Novatsky announced the vessel had been sunk by a Russian aircraft, three days earlier, on March 3, 2022.[5] He indicated crew members, and at least one civilian passenger, had been killed. He did not indicate whether there had been any survivors.[6] Later reports confirmed she went down with all hands.[3]
Four other vessels of this class were transferred to Ukraine.[4][7] Their fate is unknown.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Allyson E.T. Conroy. Remembering Coast Guard Cutter Cushing, United States Coast Guard, 2022-03-22. Retrieved on 2022-03-22. “After Cushing was decommissioned in 2017, it was transferred to Ukraine under the Coast Guard’s Office of International Acquisition Excess Defense Articles Program two years later. As a Ukrainian patrol boat, the Cushing received a new name and a new homeport: the Sloviansk, homeported in Odessa, in the northwest corner of the Black Sea.”
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chuck Hill. “Remembering Coast Guard Cutter Cushing” –MyCG, Chuck Hill's blog, 2022-03-22. Retrieved on 2022-03-22.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chuck Hill. Ukrainian Island Class Cutter Rearmed, Chuck Hill's blog, 2021-12-13. Retrieved on 2022-03-22. “As can be seen, control is entirely manual and lacks stabilization, sensors, electro-optics, or any kind of firecontrol computer.”
- ↑ Patricia Kine. Russia Reportedly Sinks Former US Coast Guard Patrol Boat Donated to Ukraine, Military.com, 2022-03-07. Retrieved on 2022-03-09. “'On March 3, an airstrike was carried out by an enemy aircraft on the Sloviansk patrol boat, as a result of which it sank. People also went missing,' Novatsky said.”
- ↑ Ukraine Reports Loss of U.S.-Built Patrol Boat by Russian Missile, Maritime Executive, 2022-03-08. Retrieved on 2022-03-09. “It is believed that this is the first confirmed loss in combat of a ship of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The fate of the other Island Class patrol boats is unknown.”
- ↑ Chuck Hill. 11 Island Class WPBs have been transferred to foreign partner nations, 15 Continue USCG Service, Chuck Hill's blog, 2021-10-18. Retrieved on 2022-03-22. “Kiska is the fifth patrol boat to be transferred to Ukraine under the Coast Guard Excess Defense Articles Program. Two cutters (ex-Drummond and ex-Cushing) were delivered to Ukraine in 2019, and two cutters (ex-Ocracoke and ex-Washington) will be transported to Ukraine later this month. Delivery of Kubrak to Ukraine is anticipated in early January 2022.”