Port Side Aft
Stern
Bow
Forecastle
76mm Gun & Bridge
Click the thumbnail image to
view full size picture |
|
Built in 1984 at the Petrovsky Shipyard near Leningrad, the
Tarantul I Missile Corvette’s mission was
coastal defense. Capable of 45 knots and powerfully armed, this particular vessel was used
by the former East German Navy for Baltic patrolling duties. Following reunification, she
was commissioned in the re-unified German Navy and renamed "Hiddensee"
after a large island in the Baltic. In November 1991 she was transferred to the US Navy
for testing and evaluation. In October 1996 she joined the fleet at the Battleship Cove
museum in Fall River, Massachusetts. She is moored aside the Gearing class destroyer USS
Joseph P. Kennedy. Displacing 455 tons, her 185’ foot length and 36’ beam make
her slightly smaller than a WW2 Flower class corvette. But she is much sleeker and more
warlike in appearance. And her weaponry fit is very powerful:
One AK-176 76mm gun – 120 rpm
Two AK 630 30 mm six-barrel Gatling guns – 4,000 rpm
Two twin STYXX KT-138E launchers amidships
Two PK-16 chaff launchers aft-16 rounds each
FAM-14 Strella surface-to-air missile launchers
As far as I’m aware there are two injection kits depicting the Tarantul class, a
1/400 model by Innex (available from White Ensign), and a 1/700 Skywave kit.
Having seen this impressive vessel first hand I look forward to evaluating these kits and
seeing how they stack up against the real thing. |
Photos Added 17 May 1999 
