FoN Ops in the Black Sea. I remember being in a few back in the 80's. A few days port call in Istanbul (woo hoo!
) followed by a few days sailing near the territorial limits of Bulgaria, Romania, and various points north. Always had a welcoming committee, and always had an escort. Usually got a flypast from our friends with Red Stars, once it was a Backfire.
On another occasion, there was a Slava and a Krivak in formation with us, and an FFL (forget the class... EDIT, might have been a Petya). If we had the same flag signals, the five of us could have done division maneuvring tactics for a while. As it was, when they came close by to play chicken with us, our CO put on our above deck loudspeaker "Back in the USSR" by the Beatles, at full blast. Good times had by all.
Now that the Bulgarians and Romanians are on side with us, the Black Sea visits are doubtless more interesting than before, with port calls in places like Varna.
The
INCSEA agreements were drawn up to avoid messy things happening when playing tag. Not sure if US and Russia have renewed them, or established a newer protocol.
West Coast,
Viktor Leonov SSV-175 was noted off Florida along with Tug Nikolay Chiker during March. Nikolay Chiker is now back off Florida. 15th April 06 GMT
Has he dropped by to pay his taxes?
