Project 20380 multipurpose corvette Mercury moved into the Baltic Sea for the first time to begin the final phase of factory sea trials in the Gulf of Finland. State media reported the development, underscoring the vessel’s progress as part of the ongoing program to validate its capabilities before it enters full service. The news highlights the seriousness with which the defense ministry approaches the sea trials and the careful oversight involved in bringing a modern surface combatant from the factory deck to an active role at sea.
According to the defense ministry, the initiation of the tests was formally communicated to the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, during a meeting focused on surface shipbuilding at the Naval Forces Command. The briefing emphasized that the operational readiness of the ship would be verified across a range of scenarios designed to reflect real-world conditions. Officials stressed that the transfer to underway trials is a critical milestone in the ship’s lifecycle, signaling a transition from static industry tests to dynamic, on-water evaluation by trained crews.
During the coming days, the Corvette Mercury will have its maneuvering evaluated under various speeds and turning radii, with close monitoring of propulsion performance, steering response, and stability under different sea states. The test program will also scrutinize the reliability of systems that support navigation, communication, and command-and-control interfaces, ensuring that crews can effectively integrate the ship’s sensors and weapons suites in a coordinated fashion. The evaluation will include assessments of machinery reliability, deck handling, and the readiness of rescue and damage control procedures, all measured against rigorous naval standards. If any discrepancies are found, adjustments will be made at the shipyard before the next phase of certification proceeds.
As testing progresses, the crew will assess the integrated operation of the ship’s platforms, including propulsion, electrical networks, and cooling systems, to confirm that the vessel can maintain optimal performance over extended patrols. The trial program will also verify the performance of the Package-NK anti-submarine system, the Redut air defense system, and the A-190 artillery mount, ensuring that these key elements can operate in concert with the ship’s combat management system. The presence of Kh-35 anti-ship missiles on Mercury will be evaluated in terms of targeting accuracy, launch readiness, and safe handling procedures under combat-simulated conditions. The overall aim is to establish a robust baseline for combat effectiveness and mission endurance prior to any formal state testing sequence.
Walk-throughs of the ship’s crew arrangement, logistics support, and maintenance planning will form a parallel thread to the on-water testing. The project team will examine the ease of access to critical compartments, the redundancy of key systems, and the readiness of spares and support equipment to sustain prolonged operations. A steady cadence of data collection from instrumentation and telemetry will guide decision-making, allowing engineers and officers to pinpoint potential improvements long before any handover to the fleet occurs. The progress of Mercury will be tracked against predefined milestones, with the ultimate goal of delivering a ship that meets all stated performance criteria while aligning with broader naval modernization objectives.
Observers note that the earlier schedule had anticipated Mercury joining the Russian Navy in October 2022, but programmatic adjustments are common in complex programs of this scale. The ship’s construction began with the expectation of delivering modern capabilities to maritime forces within a defined timeframe, and the current trajectory reflects ongoing efforts to ensure that every system performs to specification before the vessel transitions to active service. In this context, the completion of factory sea trials and the successful passage through the current phase would be viewed as a strong endorsement of the design and a sign that subsequent state tests can proceed with minimized risk. Mercury, released to the fleet after a period of extensive testing and integration, is part of a broader push to enhance coastal defense, anti-submarine warfare, and surface warfare capabilities with a flexible, multi-mission platform that can be deployed across a range of regional theaters.