Aleksandr Shabalin: What We Know About Russia's Ropucha-Class Landing Ship

Aleksandr Osipovich Shabalin was a World War II torpedo boat commander who served in the Soviet Navy throughout his professional career. Shabalin was twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions during WWII, and the Russian landing ship Aleksandr Shabalin is named in his honor. The Aleksandr Shabalin entered service in 1985 and has served in the Soviet and now the Russian Navy ever since.

The Ropucha-class landing ship was designed for beach landings. Displacing 4,497 tons of seawater when fully loaded, the Aleksandr Shabalin is larger than something like the WWII's Higgins boat that helped the Allies succeed during Operation Overlord but far smaller than something like an aircraft carrier (which displaces upwards of 90,000 tons). The Aleksandr Shabalin has a 450-ton cargo capacity and can handle all kinds of equipment. 

Outfitted with a variety of weapon systems and vehicles in different configurations, they can also transport tanks like the Soviet-era T-72 and hundreds of personnel. The vessels have a crew complement of 79 enlisted personnel and eight officers. A total of 28 of the vessels were manufactured and placed into service, but now just 13 make up the active fleet.

The Aleksandr Shabalin was constructed as part of the second batch of Ropucha-Class landing ships. It has large doors on its bow and stern for loading and unloading vehicles and cargo. The deck measures 6,800 square feet, providing additional storage outside the cargo compartment. Ropucha-class vessels are roll-on/roll-off-capable, so they don't require cranes to load or offload. This is vitally important to amphibious assaults, where such equipment would be lacking or, more likely, entirely nonexistent.

While they're not designed as direct-fire warships, these landing craft aren't defenseless. They possess two 57 mm AK-725 coupled guns, two A-215 Grad-M multiple launch rocket systems (MLRSs), and four 9K32 Strela-2 man-portable surface-to-air missile launchers. The ship has a basic load of 360 mixed-type rockets. They're powered by a diesel powerplant that provides 19,200 bhp and pushes the Aleksandr Shabalin to around 21 mph. In terms of size, the Aleksandr Shabalin measures about 396 feet long. The Aleksandr Shabalin supported the Syrian government and Russia's interests during that civil war, and it has participated in some other exercises. Outside of that, we couldn't find any evidence of non-exercise amphibious landings conducted by the vessel.