.jpg) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Russia | |
| Name |
|
| Namesake | Aleksandr Shabalin |
| Builder | Stocznia Północna,Gdańsk, Poland |
| Laid down | 1985 |
| Launched | 11 June 1985 |
| Commissioned | 31 December 1985 |
| Home port | Baltiysk |
| Identification | Hull number
|
| Status | In service |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Ropucha-classlanding ship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 112.5 m (369 ft 1 in) |
| Beam | 15.01 m (49 ft 3 in) |
| Draught | 4.26 m (14 ft 0 in) |
| Ramps | Over bows and at stern |
| Installed power | 3 × 750 kW (1,006 hp)diesel generators |
| Propulsion | 2 × 9,600 hp (7,159 kW) Zgoda-Sulzer 16ZVB40/48 diesel engines |
| Speed | 18knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Range |
|
| Endurance | 30 days |
| Capacity | 10 ×main battle tanks and 340 troopsor 12 ×BTRAPC and 340 troopsor 3 × main battle tanks, 3 ×2S9 Nona-SSPG, 5 ×MT-LB APC, 4 trucks and 313 troopsor 500 tons of cargo |
| Complement | 98 |
| Armament |
|
Aleksandr Shabalin (Russian:Александр Шабалин) is aRopucha-classlanding ship of theRussian Navy and part of theBaltic Fleet.
Named after the Soviet naval officer and twice-Hero of the Soviet UnionAleksandr Shabalin, the ship was built inPoland andlaunched in 1985. She was namedBDK-60 (Russian:БДК-60) for Russian:Большой десантный корабль,romanized: Bolshoy desantnyi korabl',lit. 'large landing ship', from her construction until being renamedAleksandr Shabalin in 1986. She is one of the subtype of the Ropucha-class landing ships, designated Project 775/II by the Russian Navy.
Aleksandr Shabalin was built asBDK-60 byStocznia Północna, part ofGdańsk Shipyard, inGdańsk, in what was then thePolish People's Republic. She was laid down in 1985, and launched on 11 June 1985. She was commissioned into theSoviet Navy on 31 December 1985 as part of itsBaltic Fleet,homeported inBaltiysk, and with thedissolution of the Soviet Union in late December 1991, she went on to serve in the Russian Navy.[1]
In service since 1985 asBDK-60, she was renamedAleksandr Shabalin on 12 November 1986.[2]Aleksandr Shabalin was undergoing a refit at theYantar Shipyard inKaliningrad, when a fire broke out in the engine room on 10 April 2009, subsequently spreading to the refrigeration compartment and burnt out 5 square meters. Twelve fire engines and 42 firefighters successfully extinguished the fire.[1] Also that month a greeting card with nine compressed hashish plates glued to it was found on board during a check of letters, leading to the filling of a criminal case.[1]
The ship entered the Yantar Shipyard again on 16 April 2012 for repairs, but was back at sea for a two-week voyage in early July, which included a visit toZeebrugge for Belgian Navy Day.[3] She was dispatched the following year to the Mediterranean as part of theSyrian Express, transporting personnel and equipment betweenBlack Sea ports and theRussian naval facility in Tartus, going on to support theRussian intervention in the Syrian civil war. She entered the naval base atNovorossiysk on 21 January and 27 March 2013, and made return visits to the Mediterranean in 2014 and 2015.[1][4] On 18 May 2015 she was part of Maritime Interaction 2015, joint exercises with thePeople's Liberation Army Navy consisting ofAleksandr Shabalin and her sister shipAleksandr Otrakovsky, the cruiserMoskva, the corvetteSamum, the frigateLadny, and the ocean-going tugMB-31.[5] The Chinese contingent consisted of the frigatesLinyi andWeifang, and the supply shipWeishanhu.[5] On 26 July 2015,Aleksandr Shabalin was present at theNavy Daynaval parade in Baltiysk.[1] She took part in naval gunnery exercises on 13 July 2016.[1] On 30 July 2017, she was present at the Navy Day naval parade onKronstadt.[1]
After assessments, the ship began a refit at theKronstadt Marine Plant in October 2020. Work lasted until mid-2023, withsea trials expected to begin in July that year, with approval for her return to the Baltic Fleet expected in October-November 2023.[6] The trials were delayed until February 2024, with the ship not returning to service until the summer that year.[7] She carried out landing exercises on 8 August, and on 13 August 2024, she carried out gunnery exercises in the Baltic Sea.[8][9][10] In September, she and the Baltic Fleet corvettesBoikiy andSoobrazitelny sailed to the Northern Fleet ranges for exercise Okean 2024.[11]
In December 2024,Aleksandr Shabalin, hersister shipAleksandr Otrakovsky and theIvan Gren-class landing shipIvan Gren were dispatched to the Russian naval installation at Tartus, Syria, to begin removing equipment following theFall of the Assad regime, and transporting it to Libya.[12][13] She was back in the Baltic the following year, where she carried out further exercises on 29 March 2025.[14]
In late September 2025 she was reported to be loitering near the border between Danish and international waters in the extreme South West of the Baltic. There were suspicions that the ship was linked to the multiple drone observations disturbing the operation on a number of Danish airports.[15]