Ukrainian marines destroy Russian drones from American Island boats
Photo: Ukrainian marines shoot down Shaheds from Island patrol boats (wikipedia.org)
The Ukrainian Navy shoots down Russian Shaheds from American Island boats. Ukraine received them before Russia's large-scale invasion.
The Ukrainian Navy received Island patrol boats from the United States before Russia's full-scale invasion. During combat missions, the servicemen often encounter Russian air targets and destroy the Shahids.
“The boats are armed with a 25 mm Bushmaster automatic artillery system and two 12.7 mm machine guns. The crew consists of nine soldiers,” the statement said.
Island boats
Island-class patrol boats are a class of high-speed patrol boats for the US Coast Guard, designed for patrolling and search and rescue operations in coastal waters.
Between 1985 and 1992, 49 Island boats were built at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana.
The 110-foot Island-class patrol boats were named after the American islands and were built to replace the extremely successful British 29-meter Cape-class patrol boats (Cape-class patrol boats were 95 feet long), which were retired in the early 1960s.
Decommissioned boats are gradually being transferred to allies around the world. For example, in 2015, three such boats were transferred to the Pakistan Navy, and in 2016, two more entered service with the Coast Guard Department of the Border Police of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (built in 1991).
Boats transfer to Ukraine
It was also decided to transfer five boats of this class to the Ukrainian Navy.
Two boats of this project, namely the USCGC Cushing (WPB-1321) and the USCGC Drummond (WPB-1323), were transferred to Ukraine in 2019. Three more boats were expected to be delivered in 2021, and in early November 2021, Sumy and Fastiv were handed over to Ukraine. One more was not handed over.
