Northern Fleet (NF) Commander Vice Admiral Vladimir Korolev checked readiness of the carrier group for coming deployment. High emphasis was placed on professional skills of commanding staff.
In Nov 2011, the carrier group was intensively preparing for the cruise at the fleet’s sea training range. The group has performed 4 gun and 10 missile firings. Aircraft–carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov took aboard the air wing consisting of deck-based fighters Su-33, assault aircrafts Su-25UTG, and ASW helicopters Ka-27. That was a closing stage of preparation for the long-range cruise.
Aircraft–carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov and large ASW ship Admiral Chabanenko will start the long-range cruise in Dec 2011.
The aircraft carrier was commissioned into Northern Fleet in Jan 1991. Being the part of multipurpose task force, in Dec 1995 the ship started her first long-range cruise heading for the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In Dec 2007, the carrier performed the second deployment in ocean zone. The third long-range cruise of the NF aircraft carrier started in Dec 2008 and took place in Northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.
The crew of large ASW ship Admiral Chabanenko also has a wide experience of long-range cruises. The ship joined the fleet in 1999 and participated in international exercises Northern Eagle 2006 , FRUKUS 2007 , VenRus 2008 , called at foreign ports Reykjavik (Iceland), Plymouth and Liverpool (UK), Norfolk (USA), Brest (France), Trondheim (Norway), La Guaira (Venezuela), Rodman (Panama), and Havana (Cuba).
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, December 01, 2011;