The Steregushchiy (Стерегущий - Watchful) is the lead ship of the latest class of corvettes of the Russian Navy, the Steregushchiy class. The ship was built by the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St.Petersburg and was laid down in December 2001, launched in May 2006 and joined the Russian navy on 17 November 2007. In total, the Russian Navy have publicly announced that they expect to buy at least 20 of these ships, for all four major fleets.