One of the four historic naval vessels on display at the Battleship Cove museum in Fall River, Massachusetts is the former East German missile corvette Rudolf Egelhofer. Built by the Petrovsky Shipyard in Leningrad, Russia in 1984, this Project 1241 Molniya class corvette was commissioned into the East Germany navy in 1985 and named after Rudolf Egelhofer, a German sailor and Communist Party member who served as City Commandant and 'Red Army' commander of the Munich Council Republic in April 1919. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, the vessel was transferred to the German Navy and renamed Hiddensee after a German island in the Baltic Sea. In April 1991 the Hiddensee was decommissioned and, in November of the same year, transferred to the United States Navy. Designated USNS (United States Naval Ship) Hiddensee, the ship was evaluated at the Naval Air Warfare Center at Solomons, Maryland and used in naval exercises. Cuts to the US Navy budget prompted Hiddensee's retirement in April 1996 and she arrived at Battleship Cove on 14 June 1997 to become a museum ship.
Photos taken 24 August 2014
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| The Project 1241 Molniya (Russian for 'Lightning') class of missile corvettes was developed in the late 1970s. Given the NATO reporting name 'Tarantul', the ships came in two variants: Tarantul-I for the export market and Tarantul-II with better sensors and equipment for the Soviet Navy. Hiddensee is a Tarantul-I design, as it was built for the East German navy. Between 1977 and 1979, 22 Tarantul-Is were built for foreign customers, such as India, Egypt, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, and Vietnam. |
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| A closeup view of Hiddensee's P-15 Termit (called SS-N-2 Styx by NATO) anti-ship missile boxes. The ship carried four missiles, two on each side. The P-15 has a range of 40 kilometres (24.8 miles) and flies between 100 and 300 metres (328-984 feet) above sea level at a speed of Mach 0.9 (1,111 km/h; 690.5 mph). |
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| Inside the bridge on Hiddensee. |
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| The Hiddensee's galley where meals were prepared for its crew of 50. |
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| Hiddensee is the only Tarantul I-class corvette on display in North America. |
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| A stern view of Hiddensee, showing the two chaff launchers, the twin Strela-2 missile launcher, and the two AK-630M six-barrelled 30mm automated gatling guns used for close-in defence. |
Rudolf Engelhoffer / Hiddensee - Specifications
Displacement: 488 tons (standard) / 549 tons (full load)Length (overall): 56 metres (183 feet 9 inches)
Beam: 10.5 metres (34 feet 5 inches)
Draught: 2.5 metres (8 feet 2 inches)
Propulsion: Combined Gas or Gas (COGOG) comprising 2 x DR077 12,000 horsepower gas turbines and 2 x DM076 4,000 horsepower gas turbines
Speed: 42 knots (78 km/h; 48 mph)
Range: 1,650 nautical miles (3,060 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Beam: 10.5 metres (34 feet 5 inches)
Draught: 2.5 metres (8 feet 2 inches)
Propulsion: Combined Gas or Gas (COGOG) comprising 2 x DR077 12,000 horsepower gas turbines and 2 x DM076 4,000 horsepower gas turbines
Speed: 42 knots (78 km/h; 48 mph)
Range: 1,650 nautical miles (3,060 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Endurance: 10 days
Armament: 1 x 76mm AK-176 dual purpose main gun; 2 x AK-630 30mm gatling guns; 4 x KT-138E P-15 Termit (SS-N-2 Styx) anti-ship missile launchers; 1 x quad FAM-14 Strela 2 (SA-N-5) surface-to-air missile launcher; 2 x PK-16 chaff launchers
Complement: 50
Armament: 1 x 76mm AK-176 dual purpose main gun; 2 x AK-630 30mm gatling guns; 4 x KT-138E P-15 Termit (SS-N-2 Styx) anti-ship missile launchers; 1 x quad FAM-14 Strela 2 (SA-N-5) surface-to-air missile launcher; 2 x PK-16 chaff launchers
Complement: 50