Russian Destroyer Helped British Yachtsman in Distress

04.09.2012 Signalmen of Russia's Northern Fleet (NF) destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov heading in the Celtic Sea on Sept 3 noticed a distress light flashing by a red hand flare from a small-size yacht. By order of the ship's commanding officer Capt 1 Rank Alexander Mashinetsky, a fast-speed motorboat was dropped on the water and delivered rescuers to the distressed yacht Elixir.

The yacht's master, an 83-year old citizen of the Great Britain received first medical aid. He told Russian naval mariners that over 10 days he had run into a severe gale heading for the Great Britain from the Azores. The gale wrecked the yacht's engine and electronics, as well as torn the main sail.

Russian servicemen brought hot meals and medicines to the yacht. Electricians recovered equipment and repaired the engine. The Russian destroyer's command contacted coast guard of Falmouth port (UK) and informed on the incident happened to the British citizen at sea.

After a while, the master of Elixir yacht was evacuated by a British coast guard cutter which crew thanked Russian mariners for assistance rendered to the British citizen at sea.

Destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov again set a course for the Seine Bay to spend the next day replenishing supplies by Baltic Fleet (BF) oiler Kola. After that, the ship will head through the North Sea and the Northeast Atlantic for the homebase Severomorsk.

NF destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov started anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden in May 2012. Since that time, the ship has escorted 14 civil vessels flying the flags of Marshall Islands, Malta, Panama, Turkey, Liberia, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia.

Underway home, the destroyer called at Lisbon (Portugal) and paid two informal visits to Portsmouth (UK) and Cork (Ireland).

Through her deployment, destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov has covered over 26,000 nautical miles.