A detachment of ships of the Northern Fleet consisting of the large anti-submarine ship "Vice Admiral Kulakov", the medium sea tanker "Academician Pashin" and the rescue tugboat "Altai" under the flag of the commander of the anti-submarine ships, Captain 1st rank Stanislav Varik, ensures the safety of navigation in the Gulf of Guinea.
"The North Sea crew surveyed more than nine thousand square miles and conducted an inspection of one suspicious civilian vessel," the press service of the SF reported on Monday, October 11. They clarified that aircraft, among other things, helps our military sailors monitor the situation in this area of the World Ocean, notorious for pirate raids on peaceful vessels.
So, to control the situation in the Gulf, the military uses the Ka-27 search and rescue helicopter. On board, in addition to the crew, marines armed with machine guns and submachine guns are stationed. Such operations are organized to prevent the seizure of ships.
In addition, the North Sea is ready to provide assistance to sailors in distress. The servicemen received the experience of such work at special trainings. They, in particular, mastered the rules of extinguishing a fire on an emergency vessel, the procedure for evacuating victims from the deck and from the water, providing them with first aid.
Severomorets are well aware of how difficult and risky it is to ensure the safety of civilian shipping and fight against sea robbers. The same Kulakov BOD has repeatedly participated in anti-piracy raids. In general, the Northern Fleet has sent its sailors several times in recent years to the waters that the pirates liked. In addition to the Kulakov, the heavy nuclear missile cruiser Peter the Great and the large anti-submarine ships Admiral Chabanenko, Severomorsk and Admiral Levchenko, and other SF crews visited the Gulf of Aden off the Horn of Africa. They have been guarding peaceful vessels from pirate raids for many months, and have conducted dozens of international caravans through dangerous waters.
Sometimes it was not possible without skirmishes with sea robbers. A few years ago, when pirates attacked the Ocean Diamond cargo ship and the United Emblem tanker, it was the North Sea sailors who saved the crews from forced imprisonment in pirate captivity, and the owners of the ships from humiliating ransom negotiations and multimillion-dollar costs.
The naval command then studied the combat operations of Russian ships in the Horn of Africa in detail. Based on them, the admirals prepared recommendations on how the crew should act in a given situation. Before long-distance hikes, teams are now studying this manual.
Yuri Gavrilov
