SEVASTOPOL, July 19. /TASS/. The crews of warships and combat aircraft that will take part in Russia’s Navy Day kicked off their rehearsal in Sevastopol, the Black Sea Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.
"The warships’ crews and the naval aviation pilots of the Black Sea Fleet and the Southern Military District’s Air Force and Air Defense Army are holding their first training of the naval parade of warships and the flyover of aircraft on the occasion of Russia’s Navy Day," the press office said in a statement.
"The training focuses on such elements as the coherence of operations by all the parade participants, the timing of the passage of naval groups and the flyover of aircraft, the speed and the distance between warships while passing in a single file formation, and the altitude and the distance between the air groups and each aircraft during the flight over the bay," the statement says.
The Black Sea Fleet’s warships have also started practicing their parade formation in the bay. Nine combat ships and vessels will be moored at the parade buoys. The parade formation will be led by the submarine Veliky Novgorod to be followed by the Black Sea Fleet’s Guards Missile Cruiser Flagship Moskva, the frigate Admiral Essen and the oceanic minesweeper Ivan Antonov that have repeatedly accomplished missions both in the Black and Mediterranean Seas, the Russian Navy’s oldest rescue vessel Kommuna and a patrol guard ship of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and other vessels, the press office specified.
"Twelve warships and vessels will leave the bay in a single file formation. A total of 26 planes belonging to the naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet and the Southern Military District’s Air Force and Air Defense Army will be involved in the flyover," the statement says.
Most of the festive events on Russia’s Navy Day have been canceled in Sevastopol over the deteriorating situation with the coronavirus pandemic. The passage of warships and the flight of aircraft will be performed within 15 minutes without the traditional demonstration of combat potential, missile and artillery firings and other combat exercises. A night concert, a gun salute and a fireworks show have also been cancelled, the Fleet’s press office reported.
Russia will hold its Main Naval Parade on Navy Day in St. Petersburg on July 25 to mark the Fleet’s 325th anniversary. Naval parades will also take place in Severomorsk, Baltiysk, Sevastopol, Kaspiysk, Vladivostok and Tartus, Syria.