Mysterious anti-submarine ship class of the Vietnam Navy
The history of the Vietnam People's Navy records the existence of small anti-submarine ships Project 201, however there are almost no photos of it.
The Project 201 small anti-submarine ship (NATO code name SO-1) produced by the Soviet Union in the 1950s - 1960s, along with many other torpedo boats and fast attack missile boats, formed an extremely formidable "mosquito fleet".
Basic specifications of the SO-1 anti-submarine ship include: standard displacement of 170 tons and up to 215 tons when fully loaded; length of 42 m; width of 6 m; draft of 1.8 m; crew of 30 people.
The anti-submarine ship class is equipped with 3 diesel engines with a maximum capacity of 7,500 horsepower, for a maximum speed of 28 knots, a range of 1,100 nautical miles when running at the optimal economic speed of 13 knots.
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| Project 201 (SO-1) small anti-submarine ship of the Soviet Navy |
The weapons of the Project 201 small anti-submarine ships include two 2M-3 25mm twin-barreled gun turrets arranged front and rear, four RBU-1200 anti-submarine rocket launchers, and racks for dropping mines and depth charges.
The ship's electronic system includes Pot Head surface reconnaissance radar, Don 2 maritime navigation radar and Pot Head active sonar.
During the resistance war against the US, the Soviet Union provided the Vietnamese Navy with a total of 8 Project 201 anti-submarine ships. In Vietnam, these ships were simply called 200-ton anti-submarine ships. They served from the mid-1960s to around the 1980s, when they were retired.
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| A rare photo of the RBU-1200 anti-submarine rocket launchers on the SO-1 anti-submarine ship of the Vietnam Navy |
The activities of the Project 201 anti-submarine ship class in the Vietnamese Navy were not many, of which the two most famous events were on August 5, 1964, when the SO-1 fleet formed a formation at sea to use 2M-3 guns to fight back against the US air raid.
Then, in the mid-1980s, a rare exercise was recorded between these SO-1 anti-submarine ships and the Soviet Navy's Kilo submarines in the waters off Cam Ranh port.
Photos of this class of small anti-submarine ships of the Vietnam Navy are extremely scarce. After we received 5 Petya anti-submarine frigates with larger displacement and superior features, all 8 SO-1s were retired.
