Maritime Michael Ian
17-06-2009, 15:22
Hello All!,
Having recently returned from a month's voyage in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea I thought members might like to see a few photographs of the naval ships that were encountered during the voyage in April and May this year, and which I have now put on disk.
The first photograph is that of a Russian Coast guard Vessel No 11, taken as she was coming into the port of Sochi, in the Black Sea.
The next six photos show remnants of the once vaunted Russian Black Sea Fleet at Sevastapol which, though in the Ukraine, is still very Russian. The people here are not at all friendly, in comparison with those a few miles up the coast at Yalta... here a smile from me bought instant smiles from the locals! In Sevastapol a smile met with absolutely no response at all. I subsequently found out that, privately, the locals want Russia's ships out of the port - which is leased to Russia until 2014 I think. We were there on May Day and there was a trade union protest meeting in the main square - adjacent to where we were moored - at which the old Soviet Union Flags were being waved.... and ex Naval Officers were parading around in uniforms with rows of medals!
The first four photos show the ships, moored "Mediterranean style" - i.e. sterns to the wharf - the fifth photo is of the Black Sea Fleet War Memorial and the sixth is the Russian Navy Monument. It was very noticeable how run down the ships looked... there was weed along the hulls and the anchor chains were painted white right to the point where they entered the water. Further around the corner, in the first photo, lay rusting laid up vessels which were also originally part of the Black Sea Fleet.... we were not allowed to photograph those!
I have another photo of a Portuguese vessel in Lisbon which I will show in the appropriate section.
Ian
Having recently returned from a month's voyage in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea I thought members might like to see a few photographs of the naval ships that were encountered during the voyage in April and May this year, and which I have now put on disk.
The first photograph is that of a Russian Coast guard Vessel No 11, taken as she was coming into the port of Sochi, in the Black Sea.
The next six photos show remnants of the once vaunted Russian Black Sea Fleet at Sevastapol which, though in the Ukraine, is still very Russian. The people here are not at all friendly, in comparison with those a few miles up the coast at Yalta... here a smile from me bought instant smiles from the locals! In Sevastapol a smile met with absolutely no response at all. I subsequently found out that, privately, the locals want Russia's ships out of the port - which is leased to Russia until 2014 I think. We were there on May Day and there was a trade union protest meeting in the main square - adjacent to where we were moored - at which the old Soviet Union Flags were being waved.... and ex Naval Officers were parading around in uniforms with rows of medals!
The first four photos show the ships, moored "Mediterranean style" - i.e. sterns to the wharf - the fifth photo is of the Black Sea Fleet War Memorial and the sixth is the Russian Navy Monument. It was very noticeable how run down the ships looked... there was weed along the hulls and the anchor chains were painted white right to the point where they entered the water. Further around the corner, in the first photo, lay rusting laid up vessels which were also originally part of the Black Sea Fleet.... we were not allowed to photograph those!
I have another photo of a Portuguese vessel in Lisbon which I will show in the appropriate section.
Ian