Russian aircraft carrier to carry out exercises in Med Sea

"Russia is sending its northern fleet led by the country's only aircraft carrier, the "Admiral Kuznetsov," to the Mediterranean Sea for exercises, daily Hürriyet reported on its website Thursday.

The Kuznetsov will sail the waters in the Barents Sea for a week and carry out drills there first, the report said.

The carrier will then start a three-month voyage to the Mediterranean Sea via the Northeast Atlantic. It will be joined by anti-submarine ship "Admiral Chabanenko" and other vessels."

www.hurriyetdailynews.com...

Very interesting!! I wonder whats going on in the Mediterranean? And why does it take them 3 months to get their only aircraft carrier....my that is a long time.

Yeah totally not dangerous...

Right now in the Mediterranean sea, there's Israeli, Greek, Cypriot, Turkish, British and American ships/planes doing all kind of stuff. And of course Syria... in full revolt, NATO wants to get in... but Russia has a military base there...

This looks like WW3 material if things don't calm down real fast.

From one my favorite movies :

Jeffrey Pelt: It would be well for your government to consider that having your ships and ours, your aircraft and ours, in such proximity... is inherently DANGEROUS. Wars have begun that way, Mr. Ambassador.

reply to post by Vitchilo


The Hunt For Red October?

One of my favourites too mate.


On Topic;

I agree with Vitchilo. Anyone thinking this is merely posturing by the Russians will have to think again. It costs money to move fleets around the world and the Russians will have thought this through before entering into such a potentially volatile area. It means they are taking this seriously.

Regards, Skellon.

Hope they don't have to tow it home this time.

reply to post by JIMC5499

She (oops "he") is a beautiful ship.
Does it still carry any Su's?

meds probably got pretty good weather for carrier ops so perhaps they just want to get some training in the worst possible (politicaly) area and get some sun at the same time? we sail ours every where let russia sail the old boat where it wants not too much of a threat from that old dog id be more worried about the subs and didnt the russians say they were gonna help the greeks out in another thread? perhaps this is the response to the request for help

The Russian navy is a bit smaller than it way back in the heady days of the Soviets. It would be both outclassed and outnumbered in the Mediterranean should there be a conflict involving NATO. Not only would they have problems from surface ships, they would also have to contend with half the air-forces in NATO who can cover the entire Mediterranean at will.

The Russians can hold exercises where they like. The realities of them operating in the Mediterranean in a hostile capacity would lead one to the conclusion that it is only exercises they are interested in. I would expect some war games with NATO countries and certainly active ASW from NATO who will be keen to practice their skills whether welcomed or not!

Historically (if anyone here is interested in history), the Mediterranean was a very difficult sea. The Royal Navy fought many significant engagements and large numbers of ships were lost to land based aircraft during WW2. It is not a nice sea to sail on if faced by someone who wants to kill you, although the Royal Navy ended up doing most of the killing in the end.

Regards

What needs to be considered is that there is a hassle going on between Turkey and Greece, that puts the Bosphorus at risk and Russia uses that waterway heavily. They might just be going down to show the flag and try to ease tensions.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by JIMC5499

 

She (oops "he") is a beautiful ship.
Does it still carry any Su's?

The Kuznetsov still operates Su-33 Flankers and Su-25 Frogfoot. For the Indian Navy it conducted tests for their MiG-29 Fulcrums back in 2009. The Russian Navy is interested in replacing the Su-33s with MiG-29s.

MiG-29s being tested on Kuznetsov during 2009.



en.rian.ru...

TJ

Originally posted by Vitchilo
Yeah totally not dangerous...

Right now in the Mediterranean sea, there's Israeli, Greek, Cypriot, Turkish, British and American ships/planes doing all kind of stuff. And of course Syria... in full revolt, NATO wants to get in... but Russia has a military base there...

This looks like WW3 material if things don't calm down real fast.

There are prophecies, or predictions if you will, that a war between Greece and Turkey will be the start of the 3rd World War.
With everything that's happening, Greece and Israel becoming allies, Turkey reaching out to the Arab and Muslim worlds and supporting Hamas, Hezbolah, and the major powers getting involved, it certainly looks like it could happen.

I've heard a little fact(but haven't looked into it much yet), that in the event of a war, Greece's CDS(credit default swaps?), do not get paid and are erased. Apparently it's part of the terms or in some agreement or something rather.