MURMANSK, June 1. /TASS/. The Northern Fleet’s taskforce comprising the missile cruisers Pyotr Veliky and Marshal Ustinov deployed to the Barents Sea for a scheduled exercise, the Fleet’s press office reported on Tuesday.
"The crews of the missile cruisers will hold an exercise to fight a notional enemy’s naval group. In the course of the drills, the warships will accomplish a series of control combat exercises, employing weapons," the press office said in a statement.
In the course of several days, the crews of the missile cruisers will practice organizing their service in field conditions, conducting joint maneuvering, and inspecting weapons and equipment in the Barents Sea. The warships’ personnel will hold drills for ship damage control while on the move and in an anchorage, practice receiving helicopters and organizing all types of defense, the statement says.
Two minesweeper groups ensured the missile cruisers’ departure from the naval base. The ocean minesweeper Vladimir Gumanenko and the harbor minesweepers Mashinist, Yelnya, Solovetsky Yunga and Yadrin practiced searching for mines while escorting surface ships to combat training ranges in the Barents Sea, employing the entire range of mine countermeasures equipment: sonars for detecting anchor and bottom mines and various types of sweeps, the press office said.