THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601130290
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
The Russian Navy's first deployment to the Mediterranean since the demise of the Soviet Union apparently will give thousands of Norfolk-based sailors a rare opportunity to meet and learn the ways of their former adversaries.
A delegation from the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, led by the deputy commander of the Russian Navy, is expected to helicopter over to the U.S. carrier America in the southern Adriatic Sea this morning to work out details of exercises between the two flattops and other ships with them.
The meeting will be the second in a week. A group of Americans led by Vice Adm. Donald L. Pilling, commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, spent about four hours aboard the Admiral Kuznetsov last Saturday.
``We were impressed with the ship. We were also very, very pleased with the level of hospitality,'' said Cmdr. Mike John, who as the Sixth Fleet's chief spokesman was part of the U.S. delegation. An honor guard greeted Pilling and gave the Americans a tour of the ship, John said.
``They were completely forthcoming about information on anything we were interested in discussing,'' he said, and seemed eager to plan joint exercises that would be unprecedented in the Med. Two U.S. pilots accompanying Pilling, Capt. Doug Connell and Lt. Cmdr. Michael Murphy, were allowed to climb in the cockpit of one of the Russians' SU-33 Flanker fighters.
John said the visiting Russians will get similar treatment aboard the America today, including a chance to observe takeoffs and landings of its F-14 Tomcats and F/A-18 Hornets.
The Admiral Kuznetsov arrived in the Med shortly after the first of the year, leading Russia's first naval task force deployment in years. The five-ship group is expected to remain in the area for about three months, John said.
The Admiral Kuznetsov is smaller than the America and other U.S. carriers, carrying a crew of about 2,000; American carriers hold crews of about 6,000. The ship is the only Russian carrier in service and its Flanker fighters are considered among the world's best.
Unlike U.S. carrier-based planes, which are catapulted off the deck, the Russian jets take off entirely using their own power. They roll several hundred feet down the deck, then head up a ramp, into the air.
U.S. Navy planners are considering a similar arrangement for new American carriers; the ``ski-jump'' design also is used by the navies of several other countries.
There were reports that the Admiral Kuznetsov might be sold, as other Russian ships have been, but the Russians denied them.
There were signs of the Russians' protracted absence from the area, however. John said the Russians inquired about the availability of fresh water and other supplies and that the Americans volunteered to furnish them with water.
But there was no sign that the Russians were short of any necessities, he added, sharply disputing a published report that the Americans had learned during their visit of a breakdown in some of the Kuznetsov's desalinization equipment. by CNB