Russia’s third Project 20380 corvette to honour sailor killed in vessel fire

United Shipbuilding Corporation’s (USC) Amur Shipyard has launched the third Project 20380 corvette being built for the Russian Navy.

The corvette will have a length of 104.5 metres, a beam of 11.6 metres, a draught of 3.7 metres, a speed of 27 knots, and a crew of 90.

The vessel will be named Geroy Rossiyskoy Federatsii Aldar Tsydenzhapov (“Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov”) in honour of a Russian Navy sailor who was the only fatality of a fire on board the destroyer Bystry on September 28, 2010.

Seaman Aldar Batorovich Tsydenzhapov, then only 19 years old, died of burns he had suffered while attempting to extinguish the blaze that originated in Bystry‘s engine room, thereby saving the lives of 300 other crewmembers and preventing the loss of the ship. He was later posthumously given the Hero of the Russian Federation award, the country’s highest honorary title.