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(Vanilla) Proekt 41, VMF Neustrashimy, 1962

Andromeda(USS Louisiana BB-71) & CaptainTadakoro380 all rights reserved.
This ship will become a preset ship in the future.




Neustrashimy was an attempt by the admiralty to replace the large-scale Skoriy class destroyers in the early 1950s by a larger, more capable ship, comparable to the new generation of 1950s USN “feet escorts”, and with an equally large producton scale. This prototype however was considered too large and costly for series production and shelved by Kruchtchev after the death of Stalin, while a modified, more modern design, the Pr.56 Spokoiny class was chosen instead. Soviet Designation was Project 41 and she was reported by NATO as the Tallinn class.

Built by Zhdanov Shipyard (Leningrad) between 1950 and January 1952, Neustrahimy was given the serial 614 and enlisted in January 31, 1955, but after long and gruelling trials of all kinds, she was only admitted into operational service on December 27, 1957 part of the 4th fleet from 26/07/1955. She was later transferred to the DKBF (Baltic Fleet). The whole detail: She made a trip around Denmark, and in summer, made another one to the Great Belt, Kattegat and Skagerrak and close to Scorland, past the Faroe Islands and Jan Mayen, then roamed the Norwegian Sea and the Orkney Islands. She returned to Barents Sea, and joined Severomorsk (Northern Fleet). She was back in the Baltic in late July 1955 and in August, sailed to the Shetland Islands, reached the 55th parallel. After a first refit followed in November 1960 ship’s composition was somewhat weakened and she was back in service in the spring of 1960. Her AA SM-16 mounted were replaced with the proven quad 45-mm SM-20-ZiF and the 25-mm mounts were removed altogether. The DC launchers were replaced with two RBU-2500 ASWRL, and the experimental “Foot B” replaced by an older, but proven and tested radar. In May she paradede at the Nevsky celebration, and after a stop in the baltic prepared for her first long oceanic cruiser, departing by August, and reaching the the Mediterranean Sea. She however never headed for the Black Sea, and came back to Portugal, the Channel, and back in September. In September under her Captain 3rd Rank B.V.Ivanov, Nikita Khrushchev decided to cross the Atlantic by sea, not on her board but the “Baltika”, and she became an escort.

She received a major modernization which took place from 21.5.1962 to 23.12.1963. It started on May 21, in “Tosmare” shipyard in Liepaja and she returned into service until October 1967, for her new overhaul. From 10.10.1967 to 6.1.1969 she underwent her second major overhaul, in Liepaja (Libau). This consisting of keeping the four quad 45mm/89 SM-20-ZIF of the first refit, plus two sextuple 16 RBU-2500 Uragan-2 ASWRL added, a Fut-N, and Yakor’-M2 systems, P-10 radars, Pegas-2M sonar and Machta-P4 ECM suite. But this only granted her six more years of active service.

On January 6, 1969, she was back into the channel and she became part of the 176th BEM in the Baltic. In October she saw her first and last “combat” damage while live firing she fired on a Project 56 (Kotlin) project “hastily”. One of her their 130-mm round hit the bottom of her freeboard aft superstructure, went through but did not made more damage nor crew casualty. In the summer of 1970 (Captain 2nd rank V.M.Demkin) she participated in the Polish People’s Republic Navy 25th anniversary, carrying Commander Admiral V.A.Kasatonova on board together with the battlecruiser Kirov (Captain V.P.Makarov). It was her last long trip abroad. After she participated in the Anniversary of the Revolution aval parade, she returned in Liepaja to take part in the new task force of the Baltic.

In autumn 1972 she was transferred in the 166 training Brigade in Kronstadt, alongside “Kirov”, “Zheleznyakov” and “Admiral Ushakov” and the training ships Borodino and Hanko; and “Bars” (project 50 ship) For the remaining 2 years of service, “Fearless” paraded in Leningrad on the Neva River in the autumn of 1973. On January 25, 1974 she was decommissioned but placed in reserve with preservation measures taken. She was eventually mothballed in Kronstadt. On 02/22/1974, she was fully disarmed, and sticken from the Navy list. She was put on the disposal list as a hulk 03/12/1974 and in in 1974-75 scrapped at the Glavvtorchermet base, Leningrad. This did not went out without a fight however: Sailors and workers at the Kronstadt Marine Plant, wanted to preserve her as a museum ship, due to the number of innovations she pioneered. Alas, they were ordered after a month to start dismantle her, including secret equipment. By mid-April this was done, and she was transferred to the Department of property stock. On board, however she was used by a floating Studio for the Ministry of Defence to create educational film on survival onboard such ship. The upper deck was put ablaze for it, successfully extinguished in accordance with the script, but her superstructure was completely ravaged. Towed to Leningrad she was beached at Turuhtannye Island, Coal Harbour, at the Leningrad Forestry port, waiting for the metal cutters to come.

In technical terms, she was a qualitatively new stage in destroyer, or even soviet ship development at the time, across the whole spectrum of surface shipbuilding in USSR at large, a brave leap forward in the future. According to the projects manager, her the hull was for the first time flush-deck, with a slight sheer aidships. Except for her bow, the boiler casings on the upper deck brand new weapons, she was very “clean”, with little observable superstructures. There were also almost no portholes and she was for the first time also designed to met NBC requirements (anti-nuclear protection), brought to the maximum extent possible. In addition, the lack of superstructure meant weight was saved for passive protection and so the main command post, bridge, boiler casings, main caliber turrets, anti-aircraft guns, even the stabilized FCS were all protected by armor, ranging from of 8-10 to 20 mm in thickness. Never a destroyer has been so well protected.