Indian warships take part in traditional naval parade to mark Russian Navy Day

 

Indian warships take part in traditional naval parade to mark Russian Navy Day

The parade, which takes place on the last Sunday of July, was overseen by President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov and Navy Commander-in-Chief Alexander Moiseyev, RT reported.

More than 200 naval vessels, including those from the Indian, Chinese and Algerian navies, took part in the traditional naval parade to mark Russian Navy Day in St. Petersburg on Sunday.

President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov and Navy Commander-in-Chief Alexander Moiseyev oversaw the parade, which takes place on the last Sunday of July, RT reported.

In his speech on the occasion, Putin vowed that Russia would continue to strengthen its naval power and modernize its fleet with high-tech resources, including hypersonic missiles. The event was attended by more than 15,000 soldiers and vessels of various ranks from Russia's Northern, Pacific, Baltic and Caspian fleets, as well as the Syrian Naval Expeditionary Force. However, the Black Sea Fleet ships were missing due to their participation in active operations in the Ukrainian conflict.

The parade is traditionally led by the Poltava, a restored 18th century 54-gun sailing ship. The original ship, launched in 1712, was named after the site of the battle in 1709 that led to Russia's devastating victory over Sweden, turning the tide of the Great Northern War and paving the way for Russia to become a world power.

Another highlight of the parade was the patrol icebreaker Ivan Papanin, specially designed for Arctic conditions. Russia currently has the world's largest icebreaker fleet with over 40 ships. Other ships in the parade included several small missile boats and corvettes, typically equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles with a range of over 1,000 km.

The submarine force was represented by the diesel-electric submarine Mozhaisk, which can be equipped with torpedoes or Kalibr missiles.

Also participating were the Chinese Navy's destroyer Jiaozuo and supply ship Honghu, the Algerian Navy's training ship La Soumam, and the Indian Navy's Russian-built stealth frigate Tabar.