Royal Navy a flutter over Russian aircraft carrier on way to Mediterranean

a reply to: Zaphod58
Slava? Maybe?
He carried a whole lot of really bad things.

That's the one. The Varyag. Good looking ship. And scary.
wmunderway.8m.com...

a reply to: Phage

That sounds like the Kirov actually.

Missiles:
20 × P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) AShM
14 × SS-N-14 Silex ASW cruise missiles (Ushakov only)
96 S-300F Fort SA-N-6 Grumble surface-to-air missiles (Ushakov, Lazarev, Nakhimov)[citation needed]
48 S-300F Fort and 48 S-300FM Fort-M (SA-N-20 Gargoyle) long-range SAM (Pyotr Velikhy)[2]
128 9K95 Tor (SA-N-9 Gauntlet) point defense SAM[2]
40 OSA-MA (SA-N-4 Gecko) PD SAM
Guns:
1 × twin AK-130 130 mm/L70 dual purpose gun (2 × AK-100 100 mm/L60 DP guns in Ushakov)
8 ×AK-630 six-barreled Gatling 30 mm/L60 PD guns (Ushakov, Lazarev)
6 × CADS-N-1 Kashtan gun/missile system (Nakhimov, Pyotr Velikiy[2])
Torpedoes and others:
1 × 10 RBU-1000 305 mm ASW rocket launchers
2 × 6 RBU-12000 (Udav-1) 254 mm ASW rocket launchers
10 × 533 mm ASW/ASuW torpedo tubes, Type 53 torpedo or RPK-2 Vyuga (SS-N-15) ASW missile

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: Zaphod58
Yeah. He's nasty too.

Hate shipwrecks. Hate, hate, hate shipwrecks.

Sunk my Nimitz more than once.

a reply to: Phage

It could be Slava/Moskva. He was a cruiser, and not as heavily armed as Kirov, but was pretty nasty in his own right.

Missiles:
16 (8 x 2) P-500 Bazalt (SS-N-12 Sandbox) anti-ship missiles
64 (8 x 8) S-300F Fort (SA-N-6 Grumble) long-range surface-to-air missiles
40 (2 × 20) OSA-M (SA-N-4 Gecko) SR SAM
Guns:
1 twin AK-130 130mm/L70 dual purpose guns
6 × 6 AK-630 close-in weapons systems
Torpedoes and others:
2 × 12 RBU-6000 anti-submarine mortars
10 (2 x 5) 533mm torpedo tubes

en.wikipedia.org...

Russia has always made some nasty missiles.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yeah. I was talking about the Varyag.

a reply to: Zaphod58

yeah.

i thought that was silly as well.

originally posted by: Phage
The Kuz is still running?

It has just come out of a refit and after this deployment with be going in for a major refit. This deployment is likely to be a combat deployment for Syria ops? A first for Kuznetsov. The new MiG-29K Fulcrums are on board along with the Su-33 Flankers. Images from below decks on social media show Ka-52K naval attack helicopters.

Image taken on the 14th October before the task force deployed. MiG-29Ks aft and Su-33s forward. The Su-33s have been modernized with a new bombing system.

originally posted by: grey580


This is very interesting. Seems that Putin wants a bigger force close to Syria.

Let's hope this doesn't cause any accidents.

This is nothing new. The Russians have always indicated since the last Kuznetsov Mediterranean deployment (2014) that she will return. It was back in July 2016 that plans for the deployment were in the media quoting Russian defence sources.

Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, is preparing to head to Syria to serve as a platform for carrying out airstrikes on jihadists, a military diplomatic source told TASS. It will remain in the Mediterranean until at least January 2017.

www.rt.com...

There is no real requirement for the carrier Kuzentsov to be involved in Syrian combat ops. It is simply a bit of flag waiving. The deployment is scheduled to be up to 5 months long before she returns for a major modernization.

In recent years the Kuznetsov group on the various Mediterranean deployments have chosen to exercise off the UK before heading to the Eastern Mediterranean. That includes ops in the Moray Firth, Scotland and flight ops in proximity to the North Sea oil rigs. The Su-33s have recently been updated with new bombing systems and the carrier has on board the new MiG-29Ks.

a reply to: grey580

We hve active conflixt between us fleet and yemen... pot shots but the us retaliated... iran china and russia are moving resources to the general area.... now im concerned.

Royal Navy AND the the French Navy AND any other navy long the west coasts of Western Europe e.g. Dutch, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese etc. will be involved in some way. However, foreign warships passing through the English Channel especially, but also the North Sea and into the Bay of Biscay will be monitored and shadowed. It's part of the what navies do. It's good exercise.

I know a couple of ex-RN colleagues and they say that when this happens the sailors of both sides have a bit of fun. The media will big it up, but the sailors of all sides are just comrades in arms if there is no conflict, or threat of conflict.

The Russian navy is not really that potent any more. The seas around Western Europe and the Mediterranean would be very, very hostile areas for Russian warships in the even of a conflict, due to the dominance of European navies, air forces and all that. However, there is not going to be hostilities is there?

God bless ALL ships and those who sail in them.

a reply to: Aeshma

They announced months ago that they were moving him to the area and would be using him in a combat role. Long before anything started happening in Yemen. It's a routine deployment.

Would be fun to have a tugboat to escort them down the channel maybe swap tea for vodka.

Considering the relative lack or Russian bases around the globe + the relative lack of continuity of security around Syrian bases I would consider this a completely reasonable action.

Why have your aircraft be able to be reached by the enemy when you can put them out at sea and also cut the teeth of your carrier crew and pilots too.

Additionally the Americans have a carrier out there too and I think France have too. So I guess this is because Russia is big and scary which makes this 'posturing' not just a regular thing for countries with interests in Syria.

a reply to: Zaphod58


I wank just as frequently but not to dead us sailors. I'm concerned based on the entires package

a reply to: Aeshma

They've had assets in the region before, and the US has been active in Yemen before. Russia and China aren't sending anything to the Yemen area, and the two Iranian ships are an outdated Frigate, and a resupply ship. The Russian ships are going to be 1500 miles from Yemen, so they're not going to be able to affect much in that area.

a reply to: Zaphod58

And if russia sinks a ship and blaims the us?

a reply to: Aeshma

And if the US sinks a ship and blames Iran? Or China sinks a ship and blames the US, or whoever? When Russia first moved forces to Syria everyone was saying that something was going to happen, and blame the US. Every time they move it's the start of WWIII.

If Russia or the US really wants to start something, then they don't need an excuse. It might make them look better if they do, but there are a lot of ways they can do that.

Russia has the right to do this....it's in international waters. As mentioned before the French and US have a carrier their. Other countries have naval forces there....it's all international waters once you get past the limit of Syria.

However;

This is somewhat of a first for the Russians, to put a carrier off the coast to possibly support existing air operations.

In addition, the Eastern Med is going to be right crowded. With all the rhetoric going around it won't take much for an accident to happen, and that accident (real or not) to spiral out of control.

a reply to: SrWingCommander

It's getting less crowded. The French are currently in Greece, and with all the problems their carrier has they tend to cut their deployments short a lot.

As for the US, they're looking at another possible carrier gap due to maintenance issues. Nimitz just got out to sea after an almost two year PIA. Eisenhower is in the Gulf. Vinson is in San Diego in post workup maintenance. Roosevelt is deployable, but may be sent to WESTPAC instead to meet commitments there. Lincoln isn't scheduled to complete RCOH until at least November then needs to undergo trials and workups. Washington is on a humanitarianmission in Haiti and is scheduled for RCOH. Stennnis returned to Bremerton after RIMPAC. Truman is in PIA. Reagan is on WESTPAC. Bush just finished training and is in Norfolk.