Page 347 - Il Mediterraneo quale elemento del Potere Marittimo - Atti 16-18 settembre 1996

RUSSIA ANO THE SOVIET UNION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 333

Bue now- The last page of the hiscory of che Soviet Navy is turned over. The
America n 6th Fleet should be satisfied, ics as w e may cali, '' dependable adversary''
doesn't navigate the Mediterranean any longer. The disincegration of che Soviet
Union has radically changed che milicary - politica! sicuation in the world. Now
US ships can freely salve their task and problems without necessity to consider pos-
sible opposing activities. They can freely sail around che Black Sea, visic Odessa
an d Sevastopol, organise joinc exercises with na val forces of che Ukraine an d Rou-
mania, not mentioning Turkey, which has become dominating naval power in the
Black Sea. The Black Sea Fleet of Russia, with ics ships as unprecedented case in
history still flying the naval flag of none existing state- Soviet Union, passes through
the most difficulte times and ics fate is stili undecided. The poor technical state
of fleet' s forces, lack of money and lack of fu el, lo w combat readiness do not allow
ships of the Russia n Black Sea Fleet co operate in the Mediterranean and w ha t' s
more it is not clear what kind of operational tasks che Fleet will be assigned in
a new situacion.
Bue in 1996 a new Russian flag - bleu St. Andrew's cross appeared in che
Medicerranean. A task force headed by a new major ship with a little bit complica-
ted name - heavy aircarrying cruiser Admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov
accompanied by a destroyer, a frigate and supporting ships carne from che North
to che Mediterranean as a Russian part of peacemaking force for the Balkans. Kuz-
netsov is che biggest ship of che Russian Navy- full displacement 67 500 t., length
304,5 m., power 200 000 hp, speed 32 knotes, armed with 12 launchers of "ship
co ship" missiles SSN-19 with range 600 km and a new antiair missiles. Actually,
it is an aircraft carrier with airgroup consisting of eight SU-27K, eighteen MIG-29K
and sixteen helicopters Ka-27. The real purpose of this cruise was co demonstrate
that Russia was and remains a maritime state, which has ics own incerests in che
W orld ocean an d has che modern Navy capable co sta n d for and defend ics natio-
n al interests and security of che state. During che passage from che North Kuznetsov
was visited by che Norvegian minister of defence, in che Mediterranean - by the
commander of the 6th Fleet of the USA. A group ofRussian officers visited aircraft
carrier America, che ships of escort conducted joint training exercises with Ameri-
can ships. The Russian group visited the Syrian port of Tartus. During che cruise
in the Mediterranean and ics passages co and from ic much time was devoted co
very intensive combat and tactical training, racket and artillery firings, there were
220 flights of fighters and 380- ofhelicopters. All that will promote further impro-
vement of combat operacion of the aircraft carrier and its aircraft group.
Bue nowadays complicated sicuation in che Russian Navy with finances, sup-
ply, repairs, with personnel, will seriously limir its further development. To our
great regret the sister-ship of Kuznetsov - Variag, the conscuction of which was at
80 percent readiness in the yard in Nikolayev, now "abroad" in che independent
Ukraine, will go for scrap. lt hurts much that heavy aircarrying cruisers of Kiev
rype noc more chen 15 years old were sold co Souch Korea for scrap.