Ukrainian minesweeper Cherkasy heads for Trabzon

17.08.2011 Ukrainian Navy's sea-going minesweeper Cherkasy left Russian port Novorossiysk on Aug 16 and within the BLACKSEAFOR task force headed for Turkish port Trabzon.

When staying in Novorossiysk, the crew carried out harbor training activities, performed communications drill, visited cultural and historical sites of the city, and took part in the solemn BLACKSEAFOR command passage ceremony from Romania to Russia.

The multinational task force consisting of warships from Bulgaria, Russia, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine will conduct underway drills in sea surface monitoring, group navigation, tactical maneuvering, signaling and communications, observation over civil ships and airplanes, transshipment, interception and inspection of a "violator vessel", and antiaircraft warfare.

Provisionally, the ships will call at Trabzon (Turkey) on Aug 19 in accordance with the BLACKSEAFOR activation plan.

Current activation of the Black Sea joint task group will finish on Aug 29, and minesweeper Cherkasy will return to the homebase.