Russian Pacific Fleet ships round off visit to Vietnam's Da Nang

VLADIVOSTOK, May 11 (Itar-Tass) -- A Russian Pacific Fleet task force
on Wednesday rounded off its visit to the Vietnamese port of Da Nang and
sailed off for its home port Vladivostok in Russia's Far East, a fleet
spokesman told Itar-Tass.
The task force consisting of the destroyer ship Admiral Vinogradov,
the Pechenega tanker, and salvage tug SB-522 called at the Da Nang port on
May 7. Here, the ships' crew celebrated the VE-Day, held a number of
official and unofficial meetings, and laid wreaths at the monument to
fallen heroes. They also hosted local residents onboard their ships.
During the visit, the Vietnamese authorities handed over to the
Russian seamen memorial plaques from a dismantled obelisk at a naval base
in the Vietnamese deep-water port in Cam Rahn Bay, formerly the largest
Soviet base outside the country. The obelisk was installed to commemorate
the fallen Russian Pacific Fleet pilots from the Russkiye Vityazi (Russian
Knights) aerobatic team. In 2009, the company Vietsovpetro unveiled the
Cam Rahn memorial to commemorate all those who were killed over the years
of the base's existence.
The plaques will be taken to Vladivostok, where the dismantled obelisk
might be re-installed.
The task force finished its anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa
and is heading for its home coast. Throughout four months of anti-piracy
watch in the Gulf of Aden, the Russian task force escorted 14 commercial
convoys. This has been the fifth Pacific Fleet's task force anti-piracy
mission in the Gulf of Aden. The Admiral Vinogradov ship has successfully
completed this mission for the second time. The task force is expected to
arrive at the Pacific Fleet main naval base in Vladivostok late in May.