Komar-class missile boat

A Komar-class missile boat launching a Styx missile
Class overview
Name:	Komar (Project 183)
Operators:	Soviet Navy Algerian National Navy Cuban Navy Egyptian Navy Indonesian Navy Iraqi Navy Korean People's Navy People's Liberation Army Navy Syrian Navy Vietnam People's Navy
Succeeded by:	Osa class missile boat
Subclasses:	Project 183 (MTB)
Built:	1952-1960
Completed:	112 missile boats,
General characteristics
Type:	Fast attack craft
Displacement:	61.5 tons standard, 66.5 tons full load
Length:	25.4 m
Beam:	6.24 m
Draught:	1.24 m
Draft:	2m
Propulsion:	4 shaft M-50F diesels 4800 hp
Speed:	44 knots
Range:	600 nm at 32 knots
Crew:	17 (3 officers)
Sensors and processing systems:	MR-331 Rangout radar Nikhrom IFF
Armament:	2 × 25 mm 2M-3M guns in a twin gun mount (1000 rounds) 2 × KT-67 missile launchers containing 1 P-15 Termit (SS-N-2 "Styx") anti-ship missile each

The Soviet Project 183R class, more commonly known as "Komar" (meaning mosquito), is a class of missile boats, the first of its kind, built in the 1950s and 1960s. Notably, they were the first to sink another ship with anti-ship missiles in 1967.

Design

The Project 183 MTB was designed just after World War II. These boats were armed with two 533 mm torpedo tubes and were used extensively by Soviet coastal forces in the 1950s. The torpedo boat had a wooden semi-planing hull and was fitted with radar. Over 622 MTBs were built. A sub-chaser variant fitted with sonar and depth charges was also built as was a radio controlled target boat.

In 1956, the P-15 Termit missile became available (NATO reporting name: SS-N-2 "Styx"). The Project 183 proved to be a natural choice for mounting the new missiles, giving the small, fast boats great firepower for their size. The new combination was designated Project 183R, the first missile boat in service anywhere in the world. The missiles could be fired in sea state 4.

A total of 112 Komars were built between 1956 and 1965 and served in the Soviet Navy, along with several allied navies, until the 1980s, when they were replaced by newer, more capable fast attack craft.

Export ships

• Algerian National Navy - 6 boats 1967
• People's Liberation Army Navy - 8 boats (1961) plus about 40 built under licence. The Chinese also built a steel hulled derivative as the Type 024 class missile boat
• Cuban Navy - 18 boats
• Egyptian Navy - 7 boats (1962–67), retired in the early 1990s; The Egyptian Navy built 6 derivative boats equipped with western weapons and electronics in the early 1980s as the October class missile boat
• Indonesian Navy - 12 boats (1961–65)
• Iraqi Navy - 3 boats (1972)
• Korean People's Navy - 10 boats
• Syrian Navy - 9 boats
• Vietnam People's Navy - 4 boats

Combat use

• 1967 October 21 - Egyptian Navy Komar class missile boats sank Israeli destroyer Eilat in the first combat use of P-15 Termit anti-ship missiles. This was the first time a ship had sunk another ship using guided missiles.
• 7 October 1973 - Two Syrian Navy Komar class missile boats along with an Osa I missile boat, a K-123 torpedo boat and a T43-class minesweeper fought unsuccessfully against four Israeli Navy Sa'ar 3-class missile boats and one Sa'ar 4-class missile boat in the battle of Latakia. Other Syrian missile boats fired missiles from within the harbor that mistakenly or due to malfunction hit civilian craft in the harbor.

See also

• List of ships of the Soviet Navy
• List of ships of Russia by project number

References

Bibliography

• • Also published as

External links

• Complete Ship List of all Komar class missile boats