KALININGRAD. May 15 (Interfax-AVN) - On Wednesday the Smolny training ship of Russia's Baltic Fleet (BF) began crossing the Danish straits which connect the North and Baltic Seas, the BF spokesperson said.
Over the next 24 hours the Smolny is to cross several straits intersecting the Scandinavian and Jutland peninsulas: Little Belt, Great Belt, Oresund, Kattegat and Skagerrak.
This area is an intensive navigation zone, and passage through it is regulated by special rules and maps. For instance, the smallest width of Little Belt is 0.5 kilometer. Besides, the navigation rules for warships are set out in the Regulations for the Admission of Foreign Military Vessels and Aircraft Into Danish Regions Under Peacetime Conditions. adopted by Denmark in 1951.
This is exactly why the moment the Smolny passes through the strait zone requires particular attention not only from the military navigator but the whole crew. The Russian ship has followed this itinerary many times before.
It is expected that on Friday, May 16, the training ship will arrive in Baltiysk, the BF's main naval base. In Baltiysk, the cadets from the Baltic Naval Institute, who took part in the journey, will get off the ship, the Smolny crew will fill up with supplies and after a brief stop the ship will sail into the sea towards Kronshtadt.
The long sea journey of the training ship is part of the naval practice for 300 cadets from five higher-education institutions of the Russian Defense Ministry. They represent the Baltic Ushakov Naval Institute, the Pacific Ocean Admiral Makarov Naval Institute, the Far Eastern Marshal Rokossovsky Military Institute, the Kirov Military Medical Academy and the Peter the Great Naval Institute.
The main purpose of the journey is to provide navigating and sea practice for future naval officers.
The Smolny left Kronshtadt on April 22, crossed the Baltic and North Seas, passed through the English Channel and the Strait of Gibraltar en route to the Mediterranean Sea. The journey is due to be completed in late May. During this period the ship will be expected to have passed about 6,000 nautical miles.