BALTIYSK, Kaliningrad Region, May 16 (AVN) - The Kurier six-cannon frigate on Tuesday sailed off for a voyage dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Baltic Fleet, a spokesman for the fleet headquarters told the Military News Agency.
The frigate is a copy of a combat ship built in the times of Tsar Peter the Great, the spokesman said. It was manufactured by a plant in Petrozavodsk in 1993. The Kurier opened the Northern Fleet vessels parade at the celebrations of the Russian Navy's 300th anniversary, accompanied Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II in his trip to the southern Russian island of Valaam and demonstrated the St. Andrew's Cross at various international exhibitions, naval festivals and regattas in Europe. This year, the vessel underwent repairs at the Yantar shipyard in the Kaliningrad region.
The programme of the Kurier's voyage originally included visits to Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece and Italy, the spokesman stressed. However due to the delay in obtaining visas at the Greek consulate in St. Petersburg, the frigate will only visit the British ports of Hull and Ipswich. In September 1769, Admiral Spiridonov's squadron, which was a part of the Baltic Fleet's first Archipelago Expedition, a landmark in Russia's exploration of the oceans, made its stay in those two ports.
During that stay, an epidemic broke out on board the ships, and 83 Russian sailors died. They were buried in the British soil. The Kurier expedition members are planning to find their graves and give them military honours.
The visit to Greece is not yet decided, but the fleet headquarters said it will finally take place after the Kurier returns from Great Britain. The vessel will sail from St. Petersburg to Moscow and further to the Black Sea by inner rivers, and then will head for the Greek shores.