Russian Defense Ministry confirms that newest submarine Stary Oskol has entered Black Sea
MOSCOW. June 29 (Interfax) - The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the submarine Stary Oskol has entered the Black Sea.
"The newest diesel submarine Stary Oskol, which has successfully completed the state trials program and joined the Navy in June 2015, passed through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles and entered the Black Sea as part of an inter-fleet transition to its permanent base from the Northern to the Black Sea fleet," Vyacheslav Trukhachyov, head of the information support department of the Black Sea fleet, told Interfax.
Turkish information portals reported earlier on Wednesday that the Russian diesel-electric submarine Stary Oskol had entered the Black Sea, publishing photos of the submarine passing through the Bosphorus.
The submarine, which is equipped with Kalibr-PL cruise missiles, passed the Black Sea straits in an up-top position flying the St. Andrew's flag. A Turkish guard-ship and a patrol boat monitored its passage. A Turkish naval frigate was waiting for the submarine as it was exiting the Bosphorus into the Black Sea, which will escort it in neutral waters during its transition to the base.
The tow-boat Professor Nikolai Muru, which accompanies the submarine Stary Oskol, and the large landing ship Azov, which is returning from Syria, have also entered the Black Sea.
During the transition in the North Sea, the Stary Oskol was also escorted by British and Dutch frigates.
According to earlier reports, the diesel-electric submarine Stary Oskol completed a series of trials in the Northern fleet and headed to its permanent base in the Black Sea fleet.
The submarines Novorossiysk and Rostov-on-Don of this series, which were built at the Admiralty Shipyards, are already on combat duty in the Black Sea fleet.
In December 2015, the Rostov-on-Don submarine, performing an inter-fleet voyage, fired Kalibr-PL cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea on Syrian infrastructures of ISIL (a terrorist group banned in Russia).
