06.04.2012
Text: Western Military District Press Service
Photo: Large ASW ship Vice Admiral Kulakov. Western Military District Press Service
Large ASW ship Vice Admiral Kulakov left Northern Fleet (NF) main naval base and laid a course for the Gulf of Aden to perform anti-piracy tasks. During several months of the mission, the ship will pay visits to numerous foreign ports.
The ship's departure was preceded by long and strenuous crew preparation at NF training ranges in the Barents Sea. Personnel had performed missile and gun firing drills, repelled "enemy" air attacks, carried out damage control and anti-terror drills, practiced interaction with shipboard helicopters.
Crew of large ASW ship
Vice Admiral Kulakov will be on anti-piracy mission for the first time. There were other NF warships deployed to the region and escorted commercial convoys before - nuclear-powered missile cruiser
Petr Veliky, large ASW ship
Severomorsk,
Admiral Chabanenko, and
Admiral Levchenko.
In total, NF mariners have escorted 30 international convoys with over 100 Russian and foreign merchant vessels, prevented capturing of cargo ship
Ocean Diamond and tanker
United Emblem attacked by pirates in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Large ASW ship
Vice Admiral Kulakov was built by
Zhdanov Shipyard (Leningrad). Soviet naval ensign was hoisted on Jan 10, 1982. The ship participated in many deployments to the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic. In 1988,
Vice Admiral Kulakov paid an official visit to Cuba during the transatlantic cruise.
In Dec 2010, the ship returned to Northern Fleet after capital repairs and modernization. In 2011, the ship's crew took part in the
Pomor 2011 Russian-Norwegian naval exercise with formal call at Tromso port (Norway).
