12.09.2012
Northern Fleet (NF) nuclear-powered cruiser Petr Veliky left Severomorsk setting course for the White and the Kara seas, reported Western Military District Press Service.
The cruiser's crew headed by Capt 1 Rank Vladislav Malakhovsky will head for subarctic regions of the Northern Sea Route to perform a number of scheduled combat training tasks.
The deployment of
Petr Veliky will be carried out under national doctrine which implies resuming of regular presence of Russian warships in key regions worldwide.
Petr Veliky is the only in-service nuclear-powered cruiser of third-generation Project 1144
Orlan. She was laid down at
Baltiysky Zavod shipyard on Aug 25, 1986 and launched on Apr 25, 1989. The cruiser effectively passed sea trials in 1996 and performed interfleet cruise from Baltiysk to Northern Fleet (NF) main base Severomorsk. Russian naval ensign, St. Andrew's flag was hoisted on the ship on Apr 18, 1998.
Petr Veliky was declared the best Northern Fleet ship in 2000, 2002, and 2003. The ship won the Navy Commander's Prize for missile firing in 1999, 2000, and 2004. The cruiser was deployed in 2003, 2005, 2008-2009, 2010, and took part in the presidential exercises of 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2010.
In 2008-2009, cruiser
Petr Veliky was on mission for almost 6 months which was the longest surface deployment in Russian Navy's contemporary history. Through that period, the cruise passed three oceans, performed two transatlantic cruises, sailed in the Mediterranean, the Red, the Arabian, the Caribbean, and other seas, reports Western Military District Press Service.
