The Parchim-class corvette, Soviet designation Project 133.1, was developed for the East German Navy in the late 1970s, and built by the Wolgast Peene-Werft.

In case of an all-out NATO-Warsaw Pact war in Europe their prime targets would have been the small U-206 coastal submarines of the West German navy.

To make production more economical, the Soviet Union agreed to purchase another 12 ships from Wolgaster Peenewerft built between 1986 and 1990, thereby effectively subsidising the East German shipbuilding industry.

The AK-725 double 57 mm AA gun, designed in 1959, was directed by the ESP-72 fire control system, which received ranging and target bearing information from an MR 103 (NATO codename 'MUFF COB') radar.

According to these East German sources, the AK-230 gun on the Parchim-class corvette was optically guided, thereby leaving the Parchim class without an effective CIWS, and therefore unable to counter anti-shipping missiles.

The electronic defense suite was very basic, and consisted of an IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) receiver and transmitter, and an 'ELOKA' multiband passive RWR antenna slaved to a double 16-cell chaff dispenser.

Especially in the hot summer months these natural occurring phenomena give submarines an easy hide out for probable sub-chasing surface vessels.

The two RBU-6000 depth charge rocket launchers created a barrier defense against submarines, incoming torpedoes and frogmen.

Though relatively unsophisticated by western standards, the RBU-6000 was a very successful and popular system, used on many small or large surface ships.

It consisted of a twelve launch tubes for unguided rockets, armed with a compact but powerful depth charge.

Because of their lack of any real anti-shipping weapons and more importantly because of the absence of a modern air defence capability, their 'blue water' (out of the coastal regions) value would indeed have been slight.

This shortcoming was partially offset by Volksmarine doctrine, which regarded the Koni-class frigates, equipped with the radar guided OSA/SA-N-4 SAMs, as the cornerstone of their naval blue water air defence.

In other words, in order to survive a modern naval war, they had to be escorted by radar guided SAM carriers.