Russian destroyer docks in Cape Town Harbour
THE Russian anti-submarine destroyer LAS Severomorsk made a brief visit in Cape Town this week, and welcomed the public on board to marvel at a remnant of the Cold War.
The LAS Severomorsk is part of Russia’s Northern Fleet and classified as an anti-submarine warfare destroyer. It successfully completed a mission in the Indian Ocean.
On Wednesday, the public were given a rare opportunity to tour the vessel. On Monday, senior officials and crew were welcomed by the Russian Ambassador to South Africa, Mikhail Petrakov, and Consul General of Russia in Cape Town, Roman Ambarov.
Russian Federation senior assistant military attaché, Victor Dolgerov, said the crew were conducting operations off the coast of Syria and will continue tasks in the Indian Ocean until yesterday.
In the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, LAS Severomorsk fulfilled its task of finding foreign submarines.
“In the course of the mission, the crew performed various interior exercises from survivability during a voyage and anchorage to air and anti-submarine defence,” read a statement from the Russian Consulate.
“In the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, they successfully fulfilled the task of locating foreign submarines by using deck aviation.”
A responsibility of the LAS Severomorsk was to oversee safety for the aircraft carrier fleet of the Northern Fleet as part of a military operation off the coast of Syria.
The last time a Russian Navy vessel docked at a Cape Town port was in 2008.
After months at sea, the LAS Severomorsk crew were also able to take in some of the sites in the Mother City.
Some of the crew spoke very little English, but they said the Cape was lovely although they only saw very little due to their short stay.
The vessel participated in the international naval exercises “Aman2017” last month, which took place in the Arabian Sea and at the coastal base of the Pakistan Navy.
Various training exercises were conducted.
These included damage control and other drills to help keep the crew in peak condition.
Weighing over 7 000 tons at full load with a length of 535 feet (over 163 metres), the vessel has four gas turbines with a 120 000 horsepower output.
The crew left Cape Town yesterday to continue their 10 000km voyage back to the Indian Ocean, where they will continue to protect Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov.