SEVASTOPOL, November 8. /TASS/. The crews of the Black Sea Fleet’s small anti-submarine warfare ships practiced hunting down and eliminating a notional enemy submarine during drills in the Black Sea, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.
The drills took place amid the presence of two US warships in the Black Sea: the flagship, command ship Mount Whitney and the guided missile destroyer Porter. The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s forces and capabilities are closely watching the US warships in the Black Sea. The US 6th Fleet earlier announced that the warships had deployed to the Black Sea for joint operations with NATO allies and partners in the region.
"The crews of the Black Sea Fleet’s small anti-submarine warfare ships Yeisk and Kasimov operating as part of a surface strike group practiced searching for and detecting a notional enemy submarine in interaction with the crew of a Ka-27M anti-submarine helicopter. In the course of the exercise, the crews of the ships used their own data and the data on the submarine provided by the anti-submarine helicopter to search for and track the sub and also attacked the underwater target, employing torpedo armaments and rocket-propelled depth charges," the press office said in a statement.
In the course of the drills, the warships’ crews also practiced air defense for a surface strike group in transit by sea, accomplishing surface-to-air missile and artillery firings against aerial targets. The exercise ran at a naval practice range in the Black Sea in compliance with the Fleet’s combat training plan, the statement says.
A Black Sea submarine simulated the enemy in the drills, the press office specified.