A group of the Russian Northern Fleet’s naval assets has left the Severomorsk naval base and set off for its long-distance deployment to the Atlantic Ocean, the Fleet’s press office reported on Tuesday (3rd December).
“The deployment of the large anti-submarine warfare ship Vice-Admiral Kulakov and the large amphibious assault ship Kondopoga to accomplish assigned missions opens a whole series of long-distance deployments in the new training year as stipulated in the plan of the Northern Fleet’s activity,” the press office quoted Fleet Commander Vice-Admiral Alexander Moiseyev as saying.
The new training year in the Russian Armed Forces started on December 1.
The Northern Fleet’s warships will soon complete their transit of the Barents Sea to enter the Atlantic Ocean, the Fleet’s press office said.
“Along the route of their deployment, the ships’ crews will be improving their sea skills and conducting a series of shipboard drills to practice various types of the naval group’s air defense during its transit by sea. Deck-based Ka-27 helicopters will make planned flights from the board of the large anti-submarine warfare ship Vice-Admiral Kulakov,” the press office said in a statement.
The naval group’s long-distant deployment was preceded by the lengthy and tense preparations of the ships’ crews who had undergone a full cycle of training at their base and at the Northern Fleet’s naval ranges in the Barents Sea. Specifically, the sailors practiced measures for repelling air attacks and inter-operability with the deck-based helicopters while the commanding staff sharpened the skills of exercising command and control of their personnel and held training for ship damage control and anti-saboteur defense, the statement says.
This year, the crews of both warships successfully coped with the tasks of their Arctic deployment, operating along the Northern Sea Route, near the Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land Arctic archipelagoes, and also off the Taimyr Peninsula.
The Project 1155 large anti-submarine warfare ship Vice-Admiral Kulakov is armed with anti-submarine missile systems, rocket launchers, torpedo tubes and other types of artillery and missile armament. The warship also carries two Ka-27 anti-submarine warfare helicopters. The Russian Navy has been actively employing the Northern Fleet’s large anti-submarine warfare ships in recent years to perform long-distance deployments to the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and to carry out missions for the exploration of the Arctic.
