Russia may send more warships to Mediterranean
The Russian Navy will maintain an effective and balanced size of the fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, Naval Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Korolev said after the ceremony in which a replica of the ship Poltava was launched into the water in St. Petersburg.
“The Navy will support a size of the flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea which will be effective and balanced, so that this group will maintain self-sufficiency, that is, it can successfully and effectively collaborate with aircraft, carry out submarine search missions, as well as anti-air defense missions,” TASS cites Korolev as saying.
Korolev also stated that the size of the Mediterranean flotilla can change flexibly, depending on the missions it is assigned. He added that the flotilla can be reinforced by ships from any other fleet on a constant rotation basis.
The group of ships must be self-sufficient, i.e. able to collaborate with aircraft, detect submarines and provide anti-air defense, and this will determine the classes of ships in the group.
On May 22 it was reported that the submarine Yuri Dolgorukiy had successfully launched four Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles during a drill in the White Sea. The total destructive power of the warheads was reportedly 2.4 megatons, i.e. the equivalent of 160 times the explosion when Hiroshima was bombed.