Two Russian Navy superlatives, the world’s largest submarine Dmitry Donskoy and the world’s largest surface combatant Piotr Velikiy, arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to attend a grand Russian Navy day ceremony which is taking place on July 30.
The 175-meter-long Typhoon class submarine and the nuclear-powered Kirov-class battlecruiser Piotr Velikiy will be among some 30 navy units gracing the piers in Kronshtadt and St Petersburg during navy day celebrations.
As the two Russian Navy giants traveled from the Northern Fleet base Severomorsk through the Baltic Sea to St. Petersburg, the world watched, with many Baltic Sea state navies posting photographs of the vessels as they passed through their waters.
Russian ships Dmitriy Donskoy and Pyotr Velikiy at the Gulf of Finland. #merivoimat #seasurveillance #finnishnavy #readiness pic.twitter.com/oC51dNZ2AM
— Merivoimat (@Navyfi) July 24, 2017
Dmitry Donskoy og Piotr Velikiy fotograferet i eftermiddags ved Hjelm ud for Djurslands kyst. Foto: FLVFOT, Flyvevåbnets Taktiske Stab pic.twitter.com/hLSlhxcBg1
— Forsvaret (@forsvaretdk) July 21, 2017
On their way to St. Petersburg, Dmitry Donskoy and Piotr Velikiy were accompanied by seagoing tug boat Nikolai Chiker whose presence reminded of the reliability issues the Russian Navy faces. The same tug towed the country’s sole aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov when it broke down in the Mediterranean Sea in 2012.
Another interesting thing about this voyage was the fact that the submarine traveled all the way from Severomorsk to Kronshtadt while surfaced.
The navy day event that is taking place on Sunday is being organized to mark the 100th anniversary of the Russian Navy.