VLADIVOSTOK. Jan 22 (Interfax-AVN) - Pacific Fleet vessels are making a control sea voyage before an official visit to South Korea, a spokesman for the fleet headquarters said on Thursday.
The Pacific Fleet flagship Varyag, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs, and the small anti-submarine ship Koreyets put out to sea on January 19 to practice accomplishment of assigned missions. The ships' systems and mechanisms are being checked before a visit to South Korea," the spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Admiral Viktor Fyodorov, the Pacific Fleet commander, put out to sea aboard the Varyag. The ships will return to base on Friday.
A Pacific Fleet warship detachment will visit South Korea from February 10 to 14. The visit is timed to the 100th anniversary of the Varyag battle. The ships will depart from Vladivostok on February 4 for the place of the battle - the South Korean port of Inchon, formerly Chemulpo.
The Varyag cruiser (Commander Captain Rudnev) and the Koreyets gunboat, after a long and furious battle with outnumbering enemy on January 27 Julian (February 9 Gregorian), 1904 (in the course of the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905), were destroyed by their crews in order not to surrender. The Varyag was sunk and the Koreyets was exploded.