VLADIVOSTOK. Nov 12 (Interfax-AVN) - A group of Russia's Pacific Fleet warships has returned from joint Russian-American maneuvers near Hawaii.
"The Marshal Shaposhnikov large antisubmarine ship and the Pechenga tanker took part in a salvage/maritime security/anti- pirate joint exercise with ships of the U.S. 3rd and 7th Fleets within a visit to the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor," Vice Admiral Viktor Mardusin, deputy fleet commander in charge of the mission, told Interfax-Military News Agency Wednesday.
According to him, the performance of the Russian personnel was appreciated by their U.S. counterparts.
"The tasks for the mission are all-fulfilled, and the U.S. Navy Command has appreciated the skills of the personnel and the state of the warships," he said.
The mission took 27 days and was about 8,000nm long.
"The mission on the Hawaii has completed the international military cooperation plan of the fleet for 2003," fleet commander Admiral Viktor Fyodorov told Interfax-AVN.
He also said that in 2004 several international missions were planned, including one to Inchon, South Korea, where the Russians will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Chemulpo battle. In 1904 the Russian Varyag cruiser and the Koreets gun vessel were defeated at Chemulpo by an outnumbering Japanese flotilla. Disinclined to surrender, the Varyag's crew submersed the ship.