Two squadrons of US, Japan ships to unofficially visit Vladivostok.

21/7 Tass 51

VLADIVOSTOK, July 21 (Itar-Tass) - Two squadrons of US and Japanese
ships in the period from July 23 to 27 will pay an unofficial visit to the
main base of the Russian Pacific Fleet - Vladivostok.
The US ship's squadron will comprise the Vandergrift frigate and
Patriot minesweeper. The squadron of the Japanese naval forces will be
represented by the Hiei destroyer and Jintsu frigate, the Pacific Fleet's
press service reported.
The main goal of the visit is the further development of naval
cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR) and participation in
festivities on the occasion of Russian Navy Day. The Admiral Panteleyev
and Marshal Shaposhnikov large antisubmarine warfare ships will host the
events.
On the first day of their stay at the main base of the Russian Pacific
Fleet the US and Japanese delegations will make protocol visits to the
Fleet's Command, as well as the city administration head. Crewmembers of
the American and Japanese ships during officials and unofficial meetings
will also communicate with their colleagues from the Russian Pacific
Fleet, will play football and basketball matches with them and will also
see the sights of the capital of the Primorsky Territory.
All the foreign ships will take part in a parade on the occasion of
Russian Navy Day. In conclusion of the visit the Japanese and Russian navy
men will conduct a joint exercise to drill the search and rescue of a ship
in distress. The visit's programme also envisages visiting of the foreign
ships by the residents and guests of Vladivostok.
The Pacific Fleet is part of the Russian Navy stationed in the Pacific
Ocean, which formerly secured the Far Eastern borders of the Soviet Union.
The fleet headquarters is located at Vladivostok and a number of fleet
bases are located in the Vladivostok area. Another important fleet basing
area is Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Avacha Bay on the Kamchatka Peninsula
with a major submarine base at Vilyuchinsk. In the Soviet years, the
Pacific Fleet was also responsible for the administration and operational
direction of the Soviet Navy's Indian Ocean (8th) Squadron and Soviet
naval bases hosted by nations in the Indian Ocean rim, such as the
facilities at Aden.
Russia's Pacific Fleet is to benefit from a number of modernization
and shipbuilding programmes. The first of Russia's new Borey-Class
(Project 955) SSBNs, the Yuri Dolgoruky, is due to enter service in 2010
with additional vessels currently being built. It is anticipated that the
Pacific Fleet will receive two of the Borey-Class SSBNs by 2012. However,
questions regarding the development of the new fleet remain due to a
number of failed tests of the new Bulava-M (SS-NX-30) SLBM which will be
fitted to the Borey-Class submarines. As of March 2010 the Bulava had
failed seven out of twelve missile tests.
The Pacific Fleet's primary operational duties today include:
maintaining the constant state of readiness of its strategic nuclear
deterrent; protecting the Russian economic zone; guarding against
criminality and smuggling; and supporting the government's foreign policy
objectives in the form of joint exercises and peacekeeping missions. In
recent years it has become increasingly involved in the fight against
piracy having taken part in the multinational counter piracy effort off
the coast of Somalia. In 2009 two anti-piracy task forces from the Pacific
Fleet were deployed in the Gulf of Aden.
-0-ezh


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