An aircraft carrying group of the Russian Northern Fleet will set out on Wednesday morning for an ocean training campaign. The first to leave Severomorsk will be the big antisubmarine ships Severomorsk and Admiral Levchenko, which will participate in joint Russian-U.S. exercises in the North Sea. The warships will be followed by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, the heavy nuclear missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov, the destroyer Admiral Ushakov, the tanker Osipov and the rescue tugboats Altai and SB-406, fleet headquarters sources told Itar-Tass. Deputy fleet commander vice-admiral Vladimir Dobroskochenko is in command of the campaign.
Before leaving for the sea, the commander told reporters that all the ships would be for more than a month in the northeast Atlantic where the main part of the exercises will take place. Such an aircraft carrying ship groups of the Northern Fleet put out to sea for the last time eight years ago, the admiral said. The main tasks in the campaign will be mastering cooperation of ships to repulse attacks of an enemy and flights from aircraft carriers. Other two warships of the Northern Fleet - the big antisubmarine ship Admiral Chabanenko and the nuclear-powered missile submarine Vepr -- participate in joint Russian-French exercises.
According to AFP (no link) "The aim is to practice working together in areas such as force protection, damage control, search and rescue missions, choke point transit and maritime interdiction." Busy, busy. |