Pennant in Greek service L180. Built by Sudostroitel’noye Obedoniye Almaz, Dekabristov shipyard, St. Petersburg, Russia. Ordered in June 1999, contracted on 24 January 2000. Originally completed for the Russian Black Sea Fleet in 1993, modernized and launched for the second time on 27 October 2000 arriving on 18 January 2001 at Salamis, Greece.
Of the Zubr-class/ Project 1232.2 which was called by the NATO Pomornik. World largest hovercraft for military purposes built for the Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese and Greek navies. General technical specifications are a displacement of 340 (light)-415 (normal)-555 (full load) tons and as dimensions 57 x 25,6 x 1,6 metres ot 187 x 84 x 5.2 feet. The 5-11.836 hp Kuznetsov NK-12MV gas turbines (2 lift, 3 propulsion) allowed a speed of 55 (continuous)-63 (maximum) and a range with a speed of 55 knots a of 300 nautical miles.. The crew numbers 31 men. The armament consisted of 4-Strela 3 man-portable air defence missile system launchers for which 32 missiles were taken with them or instead 2-Strela 2 qua launchers, further more 2-3cm AK-630 machineguns, 2-14cm Ogon launchers or 2-12,2cm retractable rocket launchers and 20-80 mines. Able to transport 3 main battle tons of 10 armoured personnel carriers with 140 soldiers or 500 soldiers.
