History
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Name	Svir (Свирь)
Namesake	Svir
Owner	Russian Navy
Ordered	January 1981
Builder	Adolf Barsky, Szczecin
Laid down	1987
Launched	1988
Commissioned	1989
Homeport	Severomorsk
Identification	IMO number: 8956487
Status	Active
General characteristics
Class and type	Ob-class hospital ship
Displacement	Standard: 11,300 tons
Length	145.7 m (478 ft)
Beam	19.6 m (64 ft)
Draft	6.2 m (20 ft)
Speed	19.8 knots (36.7 km/h; 22.8 mph)
Range	11,600 nmi (21,500 km; 13,300 mi) at 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	10 lifeboats
Troops	300-450 patients
Complement	207 crew
Aircraft carried	1 x Kamov Ka-25
Aviation facilities	Helipad and hangar

Svir is a Russian Navy hospital ship of the Ob-class. Svir is part of the Northern Fleet.

Development

The four Ob-class hospital ships were designed to provide medical and recreational facilities. They were also employed as personnel transports. They have civilian crews but carry uniformed naval medical personnel. The ships are fully equipped with surgical equipment. Later two units are Project B-320 II, implying a modification to the basic design; the external differences are minor.

Construction and career

She was laid down in 1987 and launched in 1988 by Adolf Barsky shipyard. Commissioned in 1989 as a hospital ship.^[1]

Svir participated in long voyages to Cuba in 1990, Angola in 1992, and a serious fire occurred aboard Svir which resulted in 3 deaths and damages to the ship on 10 March 1999 as she was moored in Murmansk.

Svir took journalists to the wreak site of the sunken Kursk submarine between 24 and 29 September 2000. She provided medical support during the expedition to raise the sunken Kursk in 2001.^[2]

References