Russian Navy Returns to the High Seas

[Nemesis6]

Russia's navy has resumed military presence in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov reported at a Wednesday meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

The minister, quoted by the RIA-Novosti press agency, reported that a naval fleet was heading to the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterra*nean Sea, where they will remain till early February of next year. The expedition is aimed at bolstering Russia's naval presence and increasing the security of Russian navigation.

The minister said an aircraft-carrying heavy cruiser, two anti-submarine ships and a tanker departed for the Mediterranean on Wednesday, where they will be joined by a Black Sea Fleet missile cruiser and a tanker.

Serdyukov said a total of four warships and seven other vessels of Russia's Northern, Black Sea and Baltic fleets, as well as 47 planes and 10 helicopters, have been dispatched for the mission. Three exercises, involving the vessels and aircraft, are being planned.

Earlier this year, naval chief Admiral Vladimir Masorin called for restoring a permanent Russian presence in the Mediterranean, saying it was a vital zone for the Black Sea Fleet.

In the Soviet era, navy ships were based at Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartus, and Russia still maintains a technical base there.

The naval expedition represents the latest effort by Putin - bolstered by a torrent of oil revenues pouring into government coffers - to breathe new life into Russia's armed forces.

Earlier this year, he ordered the military to resume regular long-range flights of strategic bombers. In recent years, Russia's bombers have resumed flights to areas off Norway and Iceland, as well as Russia's northeast corner, across the Bering Strait from Alaska several years ago.

Still, it was unclear how much of a presence the Russian ships would have, either in the Mediterranean or elsewhere. Like other branches of military, the navy, particularly its surface fleet, suffered in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse, as a lack of funding resulted in ships and submarines rusting away in docks and berths.

In mid-August, Putin announced the resumption of strategic patrol flights, saying that although the country halted long-distance strategic flights to remote regions in 1992 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing economic and political chaos, other nations had continued the practice, compromising Russian national security.

Russia's strategic bombers have since carried out over 70 patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans, as well as the Black Sea, a senior Air Force official said Tuesday, adding that NATO interceptor aircraft had escorted Russian bombers during all their patrols.

http://www.mnweekly***/news/20071206/55295359.html

Боже, Царя храни! Anyway, the Nashists will be happy indeed.

 

[delusional]

Say hello to WW3 folks.

YAY 1001th post!

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

I fail to see how Russia patrolling again would bring about ww3. Maybe they just want some friends. :|

 

[kirovman]

The truncated title of this thread reads:
"Russian Navy Returns to..."
I mentally filled in the gap with "the moon"

It's interesting to see Russia trying to reclaim its former glory. I wonder where things will be in 20 years.

 

[Viperidae]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHnSf22NSPE

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Now there is a good enemy. A mirror image enemy. They have the same kind of ships, guns, planes.

I'm sick of these goddamn terrorists and their car bombings, beheadings and asymmetrical warfare. It's too confusing and hard to fight. Bring back symetry.

 

[PortalStormzzzz]

I'm pro-Russian. Screw the lot of you. But I want a democratic Russia. Putin makes Baby Jesus cry for starting WW3 on his birthday.

Viperidae, That is exactly what is happening. For once, The Simpson has gotten it right. GOd, what has the world come to. Russia has a navy, the Simpson getting something right, IRAN NOT A NUKLEAR THREAT? *COUGH* Double think *COUGH*

 

[Avoidist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHnSf22NSPE

I laughed uncontrollably for 5 minutes.

Also, I want to see a russian aircraft carrier on the moon. Something that large will prove our superiority in the universe once and for all. ONCE AND FOR ALL!

 

[PortalStormzzzz]

... FOr me to visit as a ghost. LOL.


But anywho, Russia isn't going to build a Carrier I hope. I'm not exactly sure why they'd need one. They stretch half way across the planet. Just stuff an airport here and there and it's just as good. Also, The Russian Navy is probably bought from the Chinese, who stole if from the US, who stole it from German top-secret plans in WW2. And the cycle of theft continues... :hmph:

 

[Nemesis6]

It's the other way around - Chinese stuff is derived from Russian stuff. And the Russian actually does have carriers, the Kuznetzov for example.

 

[PortalStormzzzz]

Um, no. China buys stuff from Russia, and then steels the US' tech. Look it up.

 

[Dog--]

So.. Any of you guys ever play World in Conflict?

 

[Raziaar]

No big surprise

 

[PortalStormzzzz]

WOOT, Asian Union. DEATH TO ALL CAPIT...Erm, unfriendly outsiders


Big brother, here you come. You got Europe, you're getting Asia, and your about t he get America. Oy, it's 1984 in 2007.

 

[Avoidist]

Oy, it's 1984 in 2007.

I don't want to have to go through that era again (despite never actually being in that era, but the few things I have seen make me afraid of time travel).

It's funny how I've grown up in a world where all major conflicts have been America vs. Puny nation or small "disputes" in third world countries. Not that I want another cold war or a WWIII, but it would be a different experience.

 

[Bob_Marley]

... FOr me to visit as a ghost. LOL.


But anywho, Russia isn't going to build a Carrier I hope. I'm not exactly sure why they'd need one. They stretch half way across the planet. Just stuff an airport here and there and it's just as good. Also, The Russian Navy is probably bought from the Chinese, who stole if from the US, who stole it from German top-secret plans in WW2. And the cycle of theft continues... :hmph:

(Yes, because the Germans had plans for the Nimitz Class, nuclear powered super carrier and the trident missile system in WWII )

Um, no. China buys stuff from Russia, and then steels the US' tech. Look it up.

Try to at least keep the semblance that your posts are making the same point.

Anyway, yes, the Russians do possess a number of carriers, though they're a bit different to western ones, as they double as missile cruisers.

This is just a continuation of the build up in Russian military activity that was seen with the restarting of Nuclear armed bomber patorls earlier this year. The Russians have finally gotten the numbers of ships/planes/etc in service down to manageable levels, in line with their ability to support them so they can once again begin flaunting some of their power.

IMO, not much to worry about.

 

[nurizeko]

WOOT, Asian Union. DEATH TO ALL CAPIT...Erm, unfriendly outsiders

Doubtful. Eventually Russia and China will go to war.

You see those bits over there?, ya, Russian far east?....yeah well the bits, especially around Vladivostok and the Amur river used to be Chinese, till Russians came and kicked the Chinese out, but an interesting demographical phenomenon suggests Chinese will soon outnumber Russians in the far east, especially around those bits close to Manchuria.

So we have historical claim that far out-dates the Russian, the inequality of the traty forced upon the Chinese, as was the fashion at the time, and the contemporary demographic phenomenon which will in future likely cause ethnic strife and general unrest with the potential to involve mother China.

Those aside, its just obvious China and Russia are going to be the new India and Pakistan.




Oh, and Putin is a fag. I'de love to point out the whole absurdity of his behaviour, his unsavory past, and his general paranoid behaviour towards everyone and anyone, but Russians think they love him, so meh.

I'm confident that if he did cause shit, the west could soundly flatten his massive ego.

I would love to see a strong Russia, but one that isn't based on the age old yawn fest of cage rattling and paranoia.

Just become a well developed western democracy and join the club ffs, instead of threatening to nuke Europe over a missile shield.

 

[simonjedi]

In soviet russia, war starts YOU!

 

[Dog--]

In Soviet Russia, Russia Soviets YOUR FACE.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Don't worry, Sweden's armies will keep the russian at bay! They'll never defeat our four planes and six tanks. Why we've deployed our torpedo boat to monitor the russians at sea. Nothing will sneak past us. Providing of course they don't have more than six ships cause our navy is only capable of tracking six ships at once, seeing as how the seventh guy has to drive the boat.

 

[Nemesis6]

Are you sure about the whole China thing? Russia had such a large fleet, did they really scrap that much of it?

 

[Bob_Marley]

Are you sure about the whole China thing? Russia had such a large fleet, did they really scrap that much of it?

Yep. Loads of their vessels were getting pretty long in the tooth anyway, and they simply didn't have the infrastructure to support them. They've focussed on keeping their top of the line equipment in service and have cut back on the older, less advanced stuff. To give you an idea of how severe the cut backs have been in reguards to the size of the fleet, in 1991 the Russians had ~170 nuclear submarines in service, they now have 50. And only 26 of them are currently sea worthy.

Thats no to say that the Russian navy's fighting ability has been reduced, as the ships still in service are the very top of the line, with older models refitted with modern equipment and new ones being built to high spesification. Also, as I stated earlier, they can now keep most of their ships either on station or ready to go at short notice now, as maintinance has been substantially improved, so hopefully we won't see another Kursk any time soon.

 

[Nemesis6]

But then where does the whole China thing that Portal mentioned come into play? Given your explanation, Portal's makes no sense, especially after I looked up a list of their carriers, etc on Wikipedia(I know, I know, Wikipedia, but still) for them to buy from China since their stuff is relatively sub-standard, anything Russians could afford, anyway. And it does seem right what you say, because their most known carreir, the Kuznetzov, was built in the Soviet times, and it's still in service.

I know they've SOLD some stuff to China, like the also Soviet Varyag carrier. Another one, the Gorshkov, was sold to India.

 

[HunterSeeker]

People keep saying, oh they want to show off what little power they have. Its like you all forget they have enough firepower to destroy the world.

 

[Nemesis6]

Its like you all forget they have enough firepower to destroy the world.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Kazakhstan... :cheese:

 

[PortalStormzzzz]

(Yes, because the Germans had plans for the Nimitz Class, nuclear powered super carrier and the trident missile system in WWII )

Well, not a carrier, but:

Harteck initially led a team at Hamburg attempting to create a nuclear propelled U-boat. After the bombing of Hamburg in July 1943, the Kriegsmarine shifted its nuclear project to Stettin under Admirals Karl Witzell and vice-admiral Otto Rhein. Physicist Dr Otto Haxel took over scientific leadership of the Kriegsmarine, or OKM nuclear project. In April 1944 Harteck was responsible for gaining Nazi funding for industrial scale enrichment of uranium. Orders were placed with BMAG Meguin for production of gaseous uranium centrifuges.

oh and nurizeko, if you haven't noticed, Russia and China are getting closer and closer. Russia is China's back up plan if the US collapses, because it can move it's markets there, and China is great market for Russian Guns. And of course, there's that whole US stolen technology issue.

 

[Bob_Marley]

People keep saying, oh they want to show off what little power they have. Its like you all forget they have enough firepower to destroy the world.

The fact they're cutting the numbers in no way means that they're reducing the power the have, Russia, while no longer a super power in all ways, still maintains a very powerful military. If anything the reorganisation of the Russian armed forces, and the reduction in numbers (particularly of their aging fleet) has, if anything, improved their ability to fight a war. They now have more vessels in proper fighting condition, more of the time and they're better armed and with superior electronics suites. Numerically, the modern fleet of the Russian Federation may be a shadow of its soviet predecessor, but in terms of the condition that its vessels are kept in and their ability to effectivly fight those of another first or second world nation, its probubly at a similar level. Virtually all military forces have contracted in size since the end of the cold war, but the sophistication of the equipment at their disposal has increased significantly.

Also, they're showing off the fact that much of the bulk of the old soviet war machine has been cut away, leaving the Russians with a more advanced, better equipped, better maintained and all together more modern fighting force.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

In USSR, SSR U!

 

[PortalStormzzzz]

In USSR, Piggy is atomic!

 

[Raziaar]

Dismantled and sold off to the highest bidder too, like some kind of prostitute.

 

[CrazyHarij]

nas zdarovia, folks! aj rimmer summed up the swedish military situation perfectly.