Destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov Follows Course to Gulf of Aden

11.04.2012 Northern Fleet (NF) large ASW ship (destroyer) Vice Admiral Kulakov has passed stormy Northeast Atlantic and is currently moving in southern part of the Norwegian Sea.

During the cruise, NF mariners keep improving professional skills at lessons and onboard drills.

For instance, recent antisubmarine drill was conducted in cooperation with Ka-27 helicopter crew which performed training tasks under way.

Marine unit continues combat training as well. NF marines will inspect suspicious vessels during the anti-piracy mission in the Indian Ocean.

Marines regularly conduct anti-terror drills, search operations, and firing practice.

NF destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov left the fleet's main base Severomorsk on Apr 6. Since that time, the ship has already covered 1,200 nautical miles.

Crew of large ASW ship Vice Admiral Kulakov will be on anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden for the first time. Earlier on, other NF warships were deployed to the region and escorted commercial convoys; they are nuclear-powered missile cruiser Petr Veliky, destroyers Severomorsk, Admiral Chabanenko, and Admiral Levchenko. In total, NF mariners have escorted over 30 multinational convoys with more than 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.