MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax-AVN) - The series of special drills and long-distance voyages to the Arctic Ocean, the Mediterranean, and elsewhere performed by the Northern Fleet this year have demonstrated its readiness for combat, Russian Northern Fleet Commander Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov said.
"While reviewing the 2018 training season, Yevmenov said the Northern Fleet had confirmed its ability to accomplish missions in the Arctic zone of operation and other parts of the World Ocean," the fleet's press service said on Tuesday.
Fleet servicemen held about 3,800 drills this year, over half of which involved the use of firearms. There were 148 exercises, some of them special-purpose, as well as 139 navigation and 78 anti-submarine warfare missions and 157 missile-fire drills.
"The Northern Fleet exceeded the training plan targets by 10% in 2018," the commander said.
"Many training events in 2018 had never been held before," Yevmenov said.
The fleet performed its first large-scale training voyage in years. The voyage involved 36 surface ships, submarines, and support vessels, 14 aircraft, 36 pieces of hardware and armaments of ground and coastal forces and the coastal missile and artillery formation, and 133 weapons and pieces of special hardware of the air defense forces. More than 4,000 servicemen took part.
The fleet accomplished 144 training assignments, including 63 aircraft combat assignments, as well as three tactical drills involving combined attack and anti-submarine warfare forces and forces protecting bases and sea routes.
"The fleet had its first interaction with strategic aircraft of the Aerospace Forces and operated within a common information space during the training voyage. The staff of the group of Northern Fleet warships stationed onboard the Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser practiced commanding combined forces; later, it successfully accomplished missions as part of the inter-fleet exercises in the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean," Yevmenov said.
"The training voyage laid the groundwork for the successful missions of Northern Fleet warships in the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Arctic," he said.