Ukraine's new flagship sets sail: Will it bolster naval strength?

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, serving as its flagship. What is known about this construction?

The corvette "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" belongs to the Ada class. These ships were developed in Turkey and have been ordered by the Turkish (5 units) and Pakistani (3 units) 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 tasks are now completed, and on May 29, the vessel began its official cycle of sea trials preceding its commissioning.

Ada-class corvettes are 328-foot-long vessels with a displacement of 2,400 tons. They can reach speeds up to 40 mph, have an autonomy of up to 10 days, and their crew consists of 93 officers and sailors, with 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 suggest 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).

Following the loss of the old frigate "Hetman Sahaidachny" of Project 1135, the corvette "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" will be the largest warship in the Ukrainian Navy upon entering service. However, despite being the largest in Ukraine, it will still be relatively small and have limited self-defense capabilities.

For this reason, Ukrainian media outlets like Defense Express are questioning the logic of building such units, especially when Russia partially withdrew similar ships from the Black Sea.

At the same time, Ukrainians point out that the series of failures of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was not directly caused by the construction features of Russian ships, but primarily due to organizational problems, which meant that the ships lost by Russia were not properly protected.