The Russian frigate "Admiral Kasatanow" was a guest in Alexandria for two days. The long-planned port visit between 16 and 18 February served to rest the soldiers and provide them with provisions and fuel. The ship is currently travelling through the Mediterranean and had previously visited ports in Algeria and Greece. The "Admiral Kasatanow" has already travelled 10,000 nautical miles on this voyage. It left its home port of Severomorsk in the far north of the European part of Russia on 30 December 2020. The warship is accompanied throughout by the rescue tug "Nikolai Chiker". According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, all crew members were vaccinated against the coronavirus with the domestically developed Sputnik V vaccine before the start of the voyage.
The "Admiral Kasatanov" belongs to the "Admiral Gorshkov" class. Her keel was laid in 2009 and she was commissioned on 21 July 2020. This makes it the newest frigate in the Russian armed forces. The ship is around 135 metres long and displaces 4,500 tonnes. Its main armament includes a 130-millimetre gun turret and two VLS systems for launching missiles with a capacity of 32 and 16 respectively. There is also a hangar to accommodate a Kamov Ka-27 (Helix-A) helicopter.
Text: mb; Photo: Russian Ministry of Defence
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These two Northern Fleet units were joined by the tanker "Vyaz'ma" ("Вязьма") from the Russian naval fleet in order to ensure the in-sea supply of the convoy; the Northern Fleet tanker entered the Mediterranean at the beginning of February, as reported by the Russian Ministry of Defence on 11 February 2021.
More interesting was the activity of the Russian corvette "Stoykiy" ("Стойкий") of project 20380 and the tanker "Kola" ("Кола"), which conducted exercises with units of the Iranian Navy in the Gulf of Oman and in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean on 15 and 16 February 2021. Russian sources reported the participation of the following Iranian units: the guided missile frigate "Jamaran", the corvette "Naghdi", the missile speedboats "Falakhon", "Gardouneh" and "Tondar", the patrol ship "Mahmudi", the support ship "Naseri" and the supply ship "Lavan" (see: https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12344756@egNews)
The full name of the ship is "Admiral flota Kasatonov" ("Адмирал флота Касатонов") and is also displayed on the ship's side.