"Peter the Great" to wreck Kuroedov

Everyone forgot about Russian fleet while dismissing potential competitors

One of the nation's best (based on the results of 2003), most powerful ships, the nuclear-powered missile cruiser of the Russian Northern Fleet “Peter the Great” is no longer in working condition. The cruiser will spend the next couple of months by the quay wall and its crew will be deprived of one third of its income, the so-called naval financial support. The decision has been announced by Adm. Vladimir Kuroedov without any specific reasons.

“This is a real shock for us,” stated a source in the headquarters of the Northern Fleet. “The nuclear missile cruiser has been in action since December of last year. Based on the results of this year's strategic Naval training program (in January-February), which had been closely monitored by Vladimir Putin himself, the missile cruiser received an excellent mark. The ship's commander Vladimir Kasatonov has even been awarded a title of rear-admiral, remark Grani.ru.

“Now, as it turns out, we are given the worst mark of all; and the crew will have to go through additional training in order to correct the situation,” declared the admiral.

Adm. Kuroedov had closely watched the crew in the course of the training program “Safety-2004” (10-18 February). Back then, “Peter the Great” had been involved in a fight simulation with the Air Force, while launches from nuclear submarines “Novomoskovsk” and “Karelia” of several ballistic missiles had failed. “Perhaps, back then, Kuroedov had spotted some deviation form the norm in the actions of the crew members,” stated one of the sources at the headquarters. President Vladimir Putin, who had been closely watching the training, had made an arrangement to create a special commission and investigate the reasons of failure.

According to the information obtained by “Izvestia”, the conflict around the missile cruiser and its crew has evolved not merely because of the crew's incompetence and the cruiser's condition. According to the newspaper source at the Fleet's headquarter, the ship, its crew in particular, has been punished for something admiral's uncle Igor Kasatonov had done. 

Rumor has it, that present-day Navy chief Vladimir Kuroedov was enraged by some statements made by Igor Kasatonov, regarding the sinking of the nuclear submarine “Kursk” in 2000.

Intrigues within the fleet's headquarters have moved all the problems of the Russian navy aside.