Ukraine's modernisation at sea: New corvette hetman Ivan Mazepa set for trials
Launched in 2022, the corvette "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" is currently undergoing sea trials. Built in a Turkish shipyard, the vessel was ordered before the Russian attack and will be the first modern ship of this size in the Ukrainian navy, as well as its flagship. What is known about this construction?
The corvette "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" is of the Ada class. These ships were developed in Turkey and ordered by the Turkish (5 units) and Pakistani (3) navies. Before the Russian attack, Ukraine also ordered two ships of this type – "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" and "Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky".
Although the first of Ukraine’s corvettes, "Hetman Ivan Mazepa," was launched in October 2022, equipping and finishing work has been ongoing. These have now been completed, and on 29 May, the vessel began its official cycle of sea trials, preceding its commissioning.
Ukraine's largest warship
Ada-class corvettes are 100-metre-long vessels with a displacement of 2,400 tonnes. They can reach speeds up to 64 km/h, have an autonomy of up to 10 days, and their crew consists of 93 officers and sailors (there is room for an additional 13 people onboard).
The armament of the Ukrainian variant of the Ada corvettes has not yet been officially disclosed. Ukrainian sources indicate that the ships will be equipped with eight anti-ship missiles (RGM-84 Harpoon or RK-360 Neptune), RAM anti-aircraft launchers with RIM-116 missiles, as well as 76 mm and 35 mm guns, and light torpedoes intended for combating submarines MU90.
Is it worth building frigates?
After the loss of the old frigate "Hetman Sahaidachny" of Project 1135, upon entering service, the corvette "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" will be the largest warship of the Ukrainian navy. While being the largest in Ukraine, it will still be relatively small and have limited self-defence capabilities.
For this reason, Ukrainian media—such as Defense Express service—are questioning the sense of building such units in a situation where Russia partially withdrawn similar ships from the Black Sea.
At the same time, Ukrainians point out that the Russian Black Sea Fleet's series of failures was not directly due to the construction features of Russian ships but primarily due to organizational problems, due to which the ships lost by Russia were not properly protected.
