St. Petersburg, Florida is home to the annual Power & Sailboat Show – touted to be the largest such event of its kind on the Gulf Coast. It will feature some sizeable watercraft, but nothing like what will be on display halfway around the world in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The annual International Maritime Defence Show, which is scheduled to be held from June 23 to June 27, will be held in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, the Government of St. Petersburg, and Rosoboronexport JSC. That nautical-themed trade show is on a much larger scale and will draw in military buyers from around the globe, while the vessels are a whole lot larger and certainly far more well-armed than the boats in Florida.
The Maritime Defence Show will feature exhibits of the latest naval military hardware and combat warships from the Russian Federation, the country’s Ministry of Defense announced this week according to Tass.
“At the 10th International Maritime Defense Show in St. Petersburg that will run on June 23-27, visitors will be able to view the Russian Navy’s latest ships,” the Russian Defense Ministry said via a statement to Tass. “Overall, more than 15 ships, submarines, boats and vessels of the Navy and the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service (FSB) will participate in the naval show.”
Among the announced warships that will actually be present is the Project 20385 corvette Gremyashchiy of the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet. She is the lead vessel of her class, and will be docked at the wharves of the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg. The multipurpose vessel, which displaces 2,500 tons, was commissioned last December; and it features a steel hull and composite superstructure, with a bulbous bow and nine watertight subdivisions.
The Russian Navy also announced that it will showcase the latest Project 22350 serial-built frigate Admiral Kasatonov, the Project 22800 small missile ship Odintsovo, and the Project 12700 mine countermeasures ship Vladimir Yemelyanov at the International Maritime Defense Show. Additionally, for the first time, the show will feature the presence of the new Project 636 (Kilo-class) and Project 677 (Lada-class) diesel-electric submarines. The latter boats are part of Russia’s program to develop a “fourth-generation” diesel-electric sub and two of a planned dozen of the Project 677 boats have been built with more on order.
The Project 636 (Varshavyanka) is also an updated version of the original Soviet-designed Project 877, and Russia currently operates about nine of the submarines, which first entered service in 2014. At least four more have been ordered, but when or even if those will be laid down isn’t known.
The International Maritime Defense Show exposition and exhibition section will be held in the pavilions of the Expoforum Congress and Exhibition Center and at the wharves of the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg.
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.
