MURMANSK, May 7. /TASS/. The Northern Fleet’s small anti-submarine warfare ships Yunga, Brest and Snezhnogorsk have deployed to the Barents Sea to search for a notional enemy’s submarine in interaction with aviation during planned drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"At the Northern Fleet’s combat training ranges in the Barents Sea, the naval search and strike force has started qualification tactical drills to search for and eliminate a notional enemy’s submarine. These drills are running in interaction with Il-38 anti-submarine warfare planes of the Northern Fleet’s Air Force and Air Defense Army," the press office said in a statement.

On May 6, the small anti-submarine warfare ships left the port of Polyarny, which is the main naval base of the Kola Flotilla of All-Arms Forces. The minesweepers Vladimir Gumanenko, Kotelnich and Solovetsky Yunga provided mine countermeasures support for the hunter-killer group and its deployment to the designated areas of the Barents Sea, the statement says.

During their deployment to the sea, the crews of the small anti-submarine warfare ships will hold communications drills, practice the elements of joint maneuvering as part of a naval group and conduct several ship damage control exercises. At the final stage of the drills that will last several days the Northern Fleet sailors are planning to hold a number of combat training exercises, including torpedo firings, the press office specified.

"The area of the combat training exercises has been closed in advance for shipping and flights. Upon the completion of the drills, the small anti-submarine warfare ships Yunga, Brest and Snezhnogorsk will return to the main base of the Kola Flotilla of All-Arms Forces — the city of Polyarny," the Fleet’s press office said.

Albatros-class small anti-submarine warfare ships are armed with AK-176M and AK-630M artillery and anti-aircraft missile systems, RBU-6000 rocket launchers and torpedoes, and also advanced sonars.

Warships of this class are designated to protect the water area and fight submarines in the close-in maritime zone.