Russia's navy parade: Big show but how much substance?

Russia put on a show of its naval might Sunday, sending 40 warships through waters near St. Petersburg in a display that promises to be strong on optics but one that may mask key weaknesses.

This year's version of the country's annual Navy Day parade was expected to feature the first public appearance of Russia's new stealth frigate, the Admiral Gorshkov. The 4,500-ton warship is the lead ship of six of the type planned to become part of the Russian fleet by 2025, the state-run news agency Tass reported.

However, Tass said the Gorshkov and 11 other vessels were too big to sail into the Neva River, where the main part of the parade took place, and that President Vladimir Putin had instead greeted their crews at Kronshtadt, St. Petersburg's seaport, where they anchored in parade formation.

"The Russian fleet successfully resolves the tasks of the country's defense capability, makes a significant contribution to the fight against international terrorism, plays an important role in ensuring strategic parity," Putin said at the parade. "For more than 300 years, the fleet has been defending the status of the Russian Federation as a naval power capable of protecting with determination its national interests."

The Russian president said dozens of ships and submarine supported Russia's interests in the World Ocean every day.

"We are rightfully proud of our navy, our naval forces, their highest level of combat readiness, strategic, tactical and operational capabilities, the strength and beauty of our fleet," he said.

Gorshkov-class frigates
Defense Minister Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu calls the new class of frigates the "mainstay" of the Russian fleet for years to come, according to Tass.

Analysts say Gorshkov-class frigates will be fast and formidable.

"The new frigate is incredibly well armed for such a small warship," analyst Paul Schwartz of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) wrote in a 2016 study of the program, adding the frigate "would add significant combat capability to the fleet."

"It's a significant upgrade over its predecessors," said Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center, who points out that the new Russian frigates will carry supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles that can find their targets much more quickly than their US counterparts.

That gives the Admiral Gorshkov-class an advantage over the US ships, including the much heavier Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers and the US littoral combat ships, which are of a similar size but more lightly armed than the Gorshkov, said Schuster.

Other notable ships in Sunday's parade include the brand-new amphibious assault ship Ivan Gren -- capable of carrying 13 main battle tanks -- the 10,000-ton guided missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov, and the guided-missile submarine Oryol, at 24,000 tons the largest vessel in the parade, according to Tass.

While those ships join three dozen others in the waters off St. Petersburg, noticeably absent will be the country's lone aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov.

The 58,000-ton carrier went in for repairs and refit in May, more than a year after it returned from a mission off Syria that saw it spewing thick black smoke while at sea and also losing two of its 15 aircraft to crashes.