Soviet Missile Corvette Hiddensee at Battleship Cove.

This 76 mm deck cannon could hammer out 120 rounds per minute!

Hiddensee was well armed against a multitude of threats. As a missile corvette, her main armament comprised two twin STYX KT-138E missile launchers, but she carried a deck gun as well, the 76 mm AK-176.

Additionally, Hiddensee bore a pair of gatling-style close-in defense guns, chaff launchers, and one FAM-14 Strella surface-to-air missile launcher (roughly equivalent to the American Stinger missile).

Hiddensee's Styx missiles had an effective range of 56 miles, while the ship herself boasted full protection for two miles from a medium-caliber nuclear bomb.

Styx missile launchers on Hiddensee.

BIRTHDAY PARTIES AT THE COVE: Book your birthday party or special event at Battleship Cove or the Fall River Carousel. These historic waterfront venues are...Ctd.

ANTISHIP MISSILES: The Styx missile is the only ship-launched cruise missile to have sunk large warships in combat. Three Egyptian Styx missiles sank the Israeli destroyer Eilat in 1967, an event that compelled the US to develop such a weapon of its own, the Harpoon missile, in 1974.

Perhaps the most famous type of anti-ship missile is the Exocet cruise missile, developed by the French. Launched by aircraft, this now ubiquitous weapon gained attention worldwide during the Falklands War between Great Britain and Argentina when the destroyer HMS Sheffield burned and then sank after she was struck by an Exocet. In 1987, the USS Stark was severely damaged by two Exocets fired from an Iraqi Mirage, one of the many events that precipitated the first Gulf War.

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