New hydrographic vessels to be build for Russian Navy

On January 2 the TASS news agency reported that nine new hydrographic vessels are to be built for the Russian Navy. According to the TASS news agency, the construction program is as follows:

'Two small Project 19910 vessels, two large Project 23040G hydrographic boats, two newest large Project 19920 hydrographic boats and three large Project 23370G large hydrographic boats will be built for the Russian Navy before 2021, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service said on Wednesday.
"The construction of two small Project 19910 hydrographic vessels is currently underway," the ministry said, adding that they would become part of the Russian Navy in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
In addition, the Nizhegorodsky Teplokhod shipyard is working on two large Project 23040G hydrographic boats. The shipyard earlier completed the construction of two similar vessels for the Baltic Fleet. The Navy will get the new ships in 2019.

Project 19910 hydrographic vessel

Meanwhile, two large Project 19920 hydrographic boats for the Northern and Pacific Fleets are now under construction. It is also planned to build three large Project 23370G hydrographic boats by 2021, the Defense Ministry said.'

These new vessels can perform several tasks which will be useful for the Russian fleets. Knowledge of the undersea environment such as topography as well as the strength and direction of currents are important features for submarine operations. Detailed maps regarding the ocean depths and the location of thermographic layers under which submarines can hide against detection by sonar can further improve the tactical choises available to submarine commanders.


Hydrographic ships can also be used to search for undersea cables such as SOSUS cables as well as fiberoptic cables used for communication and the transfer of data. Locating these cables opens the possibility for Russia to attach equipment to them in order to monitor communications and data of potential rivals and adversaries.

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