SEVASTOPOL. June 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The Ukrainian Navy ships Slavutich and Kremenets sailed off to the Mediterranean Sea to take part in the Sorbet Royal 2005 search and rescue exercise to be held in Italian coastal waters.
An official of the Ukrainian Navy press service told Interfax on Tuesday that the ships are carrying a task force of rescuers, divers of the SAR operations center and cadets of the Sevastopol-based Nakhimov naval school.
Vice Admiral Ihor Knyaz, Ukrainian Navy commander-in-chief, is heading the delegation.
After all ships arrive in Taranto and crews take necessary training, the multinational units will start getting ready for the search and rescue of a sunk submarine. For instance, they will refine skills of crew coming out of the sunk sub at 50-100m of depth, and the standing operating procedures of its rescue and evacuation.
This exercise will involve the Dolphin submarine of the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Sirocco sub of the Spanish Navy, the Longobardo sub of the Italian Navy and the Preveze sub of the Turkish Navy.
Sorbet Royal 2005 will see the participation of ships, submarines, tows and rescue boats, deep-diving rescue equipment, naval aviation and rescue airborne forces of the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Turkey, the U.S., France, Ukraine, Russia (the Shakhter rescue tug of the Black Sea Fleet), Great Britain and some other countries.