SKR-7
Contents
Description
The Pr. 35 SKR-7 is a squadron rank V Soviet frigate
with a battle rating of 4.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update 1.89 "Imperial Navy".
General info
Survivability and armour
Being a light Anti-submarine Frigate, the Pr.35 Mirka class has very little substantial armour, with just 5 mm turret armour and the 15 mm splash guard for the forward turret. While these may minimize damage caused by small calibre HE rounds and splash damage from other areas being hit, they will not protect the turrets from direct fire starting at even the size of 12.7 mm machine guns. General survivability is not much better, as the primary armament is limited to two large turrets. Losing turrets is common on the Mirka and will result in your fire being halved at the least. Furthermore, the low crew count of 98 means that a very low damage threshold can be sustained on major components before the ship is destroyed. Thankfully the Mirka has a few aces up its sleeve to counteract these issues. To begin with, the crew are very spaced out in the ship, meaning that you will most likely survive the first few salvos. Secondly, because the hull has such a low freeboard for the majority of the ship, most of the machinery and ammunition is protected by the sea.
Overall the ship's survivability is below average, with its low crew and few turrets being the brunt of the issue.
Mobility
Mobility is a very strong suit of the ship. Starting at 57 km/h stock the ship lags behind destroyers and most cruisers, and cannot hold a candle to the late-game MTBs that it might face. However, of the Corvette/Frigate class, the Pr.35 has a distinct advantage, often holding a 10 km/h advantage or more over other ships of its size. These are rarely faced, however, and as such, it cannot be expected that you will ever be leading the charge in matches. The turn radius of the ship is reasonable, however, the initial snap can be very deceiving when initiating a turn. One major issue when manoeuvring the Mirka is the existence of the hull-mounted Sonar system. This dips far below the keel of the hull and can often be caught on rocks. Special attention must be given when manoeuvring around shoals and beaches where the Sonar might holdfast.
Armament
Primary armament
The primary armament of the Pr.35 is where the ship shines. It is armed with a pair of AK-726 76 mm semi-automatic gun turrets. Each of these turrets contains two guns firing a total of 90 rounds per minute. This firing rate allows for the ship to dismantle any opponent vessel in seconds, from MTBs all the way up to destroyer leaders and light cruisers. These guns have very nice post-penetration effects on targets lacking armour and can be extremely dangerous should you sneak up on someone. This firing rate comes at a price, however, and that price is two-fold. Firstly, the guns overheat quickly, barrages tend to be limited and the guns must be watched for overheat. Secondly, the shells have a relatively short range and their effectiveness drops off quickly beyond 5 kilometres when shells begin to miss and fire arcs become too great to regularly hit the target.
Torpedo armament
The Pr.35 "Mirka" is armed with a single quintuple 406 mm torpedo launcher armed with the SET-40 lightweight anti-submarine torpedo. The launcher has very good launch angles and five torpedoes are quite reasonable however that is where the praise ends. The torpedoes have only one operational setting, with no option for upgrades and are slow. At 54 km/h a cruiser with keen eyes can outrun these torpedoes and with 8-kilometre range, they are not going to reach much past the effective range of your turrets. Worse still the torpedoes have a meek 80 kg warhead, which will not destroy ships larger than a corvette in one hit. These torpedoes have limited use in surprising unsuspecting captains should you face something armoured such as a heavy cruiser, and can be used should the main battery fall silent, however, they are unlikely to destroy anything without multiple hits and must be used at a range where they cannot be avoided easily.
Special armament
The Mirkas round off their armament with four RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launchers, each carrying 12 rockets to total 48. As being rockets they have a limited effective engagement range, high arcs of fire and are very hard to aim in conjunction with primary weapons, however should a small boat decide to get too close or should you decide to engage a target at point-blank range, the barrage of 25 kg warheads smashing into the superstructure and hull of the hostile ship will almost certainly cripple it, if not outright sink it.
Usage in battles
The Mirka excels in close-quarter brawling with anything its shells can penetrate, especially in dispatching torpedo boats and early destroyers. This vehicle is heavily reliant on both map and BR; it will crush 3.7 and below within seconds, but against ships of 4.7 and above will struggle heavily even within its gun range. It is best not to spawn this vehicle on maps consisting of the open ocean unless you are left with no choice; due to its limited range the Mirka needs to exploit cover in order to close the gap without being targeted by guns with over twice the range. Critically, captains should avoid the wide-open ocean, as they will draw fire from targets that they cannot engage themselves. Because the guns only fire HE, captains of the Mirka should avoid engaging cruisers, as they may find penetrating and damaging the components of cruisers difficult even in close quarters.
Captains of the Mirka should attempt to close the distance on any target and engage with their guns within 5 kilometres for maximum effectiveness, reserving torpedoes and rockets for extreme close quarters or emergencies. Prior to unlocking HE-VT the Mirka has no air defence, and staying in the open also invites bombers to exploit this. The HE-VT once unlocked should be the primary armament, due to a slightly greater explosive mass and decent effectiveness against planes. The rocket launcher is useful only at extremely close range and the torpedo battery is small, limited in firing arc and weak.
Modules
| Tier | Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Dry-Docking | Tool Set | ||||
| II | Rudder Replacement | Fire Protection System | Smokescreen | 76 mm HE ZS-62 | ||
| III | Propeller Replacement | Shrapnel Protection | Improved Rangefinder | Primary Armament Targeting | Rocket Launcher | |
| IV | Engine Maintenance | New Pumps | ||||
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Extremely high fire rate
- Good gun handling
- Small target to engage
- Decent manoeuvrability
- Main armament capable of engaging both surface and air targets
Cons:
- Guns overheat quickly, and accuracy suffers massively as a result
- Torpedoes are next to useless
- Poor survivability
- Two gun turrets are easily knocked out
- No passive anti-air armament
- Shells have a maximum range of around 6.5 km
History
The Pr.35, or Mirka class, was a class of light anti-submarine frigates that were built in the mid 1960's for the Soviet Navy. They were the successor to the Petya class (Pr. 159) Light frigates. 18 Mirka class frigates were built by Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad, between 1964 and 1966. All ships were decommissioned between 1989 and 1992. One ship is known to have rammed the USS Caron, a US Spruance-class destroyer, in the black sea, on February 12th, 1988.
Media
- Videos
See also
Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the ship;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
| USSR frigates | |
|---|---|
| Pr. 50 | Rosomacha · Yenot |
| Pr. 159 | SKR-1 |
| Pr. 35 | SKR-7 |
| Pr. 1331M | MPK Pr.1331M |
| USSR squadron ships | |
|---|---|
