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Russian warship horns in on Norwegian naval exercise
By Thomas Nilsen[BarentsObserver] The large warship “Vice-Admiral Kulakov”, the navy tug “Altai” and the military tanker “Akademik Pashin” were not in a hurry when sailing outside Vesterålen, northern Norway Wednesday and Thursday this week. A few nautical miles closer to the shore is the Norwegian Navy’s annual FLOTEX 21 exercise underway. 14 Norwegian and NATO allied ships and submarines are participating in the two-week drill taking place in the fjords inside Andøya and the waters outside. Andøya is currently home to the airbase with Norwegian and allied maritime patrol aircrafts keeping track of Russian submarines sailing out from the strategically important Kola Peninsula. "Vice-Admiral Kulakov" has been on a world-ocean voyage since late June, sailing the Mediterranean with visits to Syria, Algeria and Cyprus, as well as conducting anti-piracy guarding of civilian shipping off the coast of Africa and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. Now, the warship is en route home to Severomorsk, the main base of the Russian Northern Fleet north of Murmansk. "… the crew of the large anti-submarine ship Vice-Admiral Kulakov will complete a number of combat training missions in the Norwegian and Barents Seas," the press service of the Northern Fleet says. The naval tanker "Akademik Pashin" was the only of the three Northern Fleet vessels sailing with the AIS turned on when passing Andøya late Wednesday evening. Screenshot from Vesselfinder.com From Severomorsk, the Northern Fleet reports that the support ships will sail to home port sooner than the "Vice-Admiral Kulakov." The ships were not together Thursday morning. The Norwegian Armed Forces says in a press statement that the aim of FLOTEX 21 is to build combat power and increase warfare capability in northern waters. "To achieve this goal, large parts on the exercise focuses on anti-submarine warfare and submarine hunting," the statement reads. Navy Commander Trond Gimmingsrud says this is the largest naval exercise in Norway this year. Read the rest at the link Posted by: badanov 2021-11-26 |
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