The Project 1204 Shmel class is a Soviet armored river gunboat family designed by Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau for shallow rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. It put a PT-76-derived 76 mm turret, a BM-14-17 rocket launcher, automatic cannon, machine guns, and mine rails on a compact shallow-draft hull, making it a fire-support and patrol craft rather than an oceangoing combatant. Russian Shmel boats were documented in the Kerch and Sea of Azov security context during the Russo-Ukrainian War, while Ukrainian Sea Guard Dzhmil examples survived in Danube-area service and training.
Russian Project 1204 Shmel boats are directly documented in the Kerch and Sea of Azov force posture: bmpd said AK-201 and AK-248 arrived in Kerch in May 2018, InformNapalm described their Volga-Don transfer during the Azov crisis, and Covert Shores listed Project 1204 river gunboats in the 25 November 2018 Kerch crisis order-of-battle context. The sources used here do not identify Shmel boats as the vessels that fired on or rammed Ukrainian craft.
Role detailsThe Shmel is best read as a river and shallow-water artillery craft: compact enough for inland waterways, but armed like a small fire-support platform.
Victory Museum assigns the design to TsMKB Almaz, with Y. Y. Benois followed by L. V. Ozimov as project leadership changed during development.
Sources identify Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch, a Mykolaiv yard, and Leningrad production context; RussianShips itemizes 98 boats from Zaliv and 20 from Mykolaiv.
Victory Museum describes a boat intended for river and lake patrol, river-craft attacks, ground-force fire support, armed crossings, and shallow coastal operations.
A PT-76B-derived 76 mm turret sits forward, a BM-14-17 rocket launcher is mounted amidships, and automatic guns or machine guns provide close defense.
Ukrainian reporting identified Nizhyn, Izmail, and Lubny repair activity in 2019, and Defense Express later reported four Dzhmil boats retained for Riverine-2021 training.
TASS reported Russian plans to assign Shmel boats to a reformed Dnieper River Flotilla; Defense Express cautioned that open sources had not yet recorded Russian Shmel combat use in Ukraine.
The compact conflict-use row therefore rests on direct Kerch and Azov evidence rather than treating later Dnieper planning as confirmed combat use.
Sources: Victory Museum: Project 1204 Shmel river artillery boat; RussianShips.info: Project 1204 Shmel; BlackSeaNews: Nizhyn dock repair; Defense Express: Riverine-2021 Dzhmil boats; TASS: Dnieper Flotilla Shmel and Kalmar; Defense Express: Caspian ships and Dnipro Flotilla.
Public sources mainly separate the baseline Project 1204 production boats from national service names; Dzhmil is treated here as Ukrainian service naming for retained boats rather than a separate hull design.
| Variant | Configuration | Designation notes |
|---|---|---|
| Project 1204 Shmel | Baseline river artillery gunboat | Victory Museum and MilitaryFactory describe the 1967-1974 serial class with 118 boats built around a shallow-draft armored hull, 76 mm turret, automatic weapons, rockets, and mine rails. Sources: Victory Museum: Project 1204 Shmel river artillery boat, MilitaryFactory: Shmel-class (Project 1204) |
| Dzhmil | Ukrainian Sea Guard service name | Ukrainian reporting uses the Dzhmil name for Project 1204 armored artillery boats retained for Sea Guard repair activity and Riverine-2021 training. Sources: BlackSeaNews: Nizhyn dock repair, Defense Express: Riverine-2021 Dzhmil boats |
Victory Museum describes the 1965 navy and shipbuilding-ministry requirement for a new river artillery boat and says the Shmel technical design was approved by the end of 1965.
Sources: Victory Museum: Project 1204 Shmel river artillery boat
Victory Museum says large-series construction began at Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch in 1967 before production also ran at Mykolaiv and Leningrad facilities.
Sources: Victory Museum: Project 1204 Shmel river artillery boat
Victory Museum and MilitaryFactory place the class's production run in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with 118 boats built.
Sources: Victory Museum: Project 1204 Shmel river artillery boat, MilitaryFactory: Shmel-class (Project 1204)
bmpd reported that AK-201 and AK-248 Project 1204 boats arrived in Kerch from the Russian Caspian Flotilla for Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait security.
Sources: bmpd: Project 1204 boats moved to Azov Sea
Covert Shores listed Project 1204 river gunboats among Russian forces in its Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov crisis overview; Bellingcat documented the same day's Russian ramming, firing, and capture of Ukrainian vessels.
Sources: Covert Shores: Naval_Capabilities-Sea_of_Azov, Bellingcat: Investigating The Kerch Strait Incident
Defense Express reported that Ukraine's Sea Guard brought Project 1204 Dzhmil armored artillery boats into Riverine-2021 maneuvers for a Danube landing-support exercise.
Sources: Defense Express: Riverine-2021 Dzhmil boats
TASS reported Russian-source plans to equip the reformed Dnieper River Flotilla with Project 1204 Shmel and Project 1206 Kalmar boats; Defense Express separately cautioned that open sources had not recorded Russian Shmel combat use in Ukraine as of May 2024.
Sources: TASS: Dnieper Flotilla Shmel and Kalmar, Defense Express: Caspian ships and Dnipro Flotilla
