 Valentin Trukhanenko The U.S. 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge pulls into Vladivostok harbor. |
It was an invasion. Of sorts.
Nearly 1,100 sailors and naval officers from the flagship of the U.S. Seventh Fleet descended on Vladivostok July 2-5 to pay an official goodwill visit to the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet, and to celebrate America’s Independence Day and the city’s 138th birthday. It was the second visit for the USS Blue Ridge, as well as for the Commander of the U.S. Fleet, Vice Admiral Robert Natter.
After being greeted July 2 by deputy commander of the Pacific Fleet Vice Admiral Valery Chirkov with the traditional Russian welcome of bread and salt, Natter quipped with journalists at a press conference, saying “over the 30 years I’ve served in the Navy, I probably know more about the Russian Pacific Fleet than I do about our own.”
Throughout the weekend, sailors in pristine white dress uniforms wandered through the city, taking in the day- and night-life, mingling with local residents, at times besieged by autograph seekers and souvenir vendors. U.S. sailors played soccer and basketball with their Russian counterparts and other local teams, while the Fleet band treated hundreds of holiday strollers on the Naberezhnaya and the Central Square to quintessentially American concerts.
In an interview with the Vladivostok News, Vice Admiral Natter said the difficulties Vladivostok and the Pacific Fleet are experiencing were evident to all. He said funding cuts in the Pacific Fleet have clearly dropped morale among sailors, particularly on the surface fleet ships.
“Sailors would rather be operating, out at sea. When you have ships and sailors sitting in port, it’s going to be tough on morale. When you’re funded sufficiently and you’re allowed to go out and operate and keep some readiness, your morale stays strong,” he said.
Natter described his first round of talks with Vice Admiral Chirkov as “very candid,” with issues discussed ranging from more frequent visits by each navy’s ships to the other’s ports to joint activities under the Cooperation at Sea agreement signed between the two navies four years ago.
Asked about allegations by workers at the Zvezda shipyard that a $1.3 billion contract recently signed between the U.S. Department of Defense and the Russian government is to dismantle active-duty atomic submarines, Natter said he only knew of non-operational subs to be dismantled.
“No doubt, they [the Russians] want to be able to cut up those ships and do it right so that they don’t create an ecological problem. They don’t have the funds to do this, and so we’ve said this is important enough for us, that we’ll provide the funding. I think if they had the money, they’d do it themselves,” he said.
There were reports of scuffles between U.S. sailors and residents, although according to Lt.Jeff Davis, Fleet Deputy Public Affairs Officer, the incidents were all minor. Davis confirmed reports that two female sailors were bitten by a monkey on the Naberezhnaya on Saturday. The sailors, he said, were treated by Blue Ridge medical personnel and released.
Davis said that nearly 8,000 curious residents visited the Blue Ridge during the weekend, and that the economic impact on the city, over the course of the four-day visit, was estimated “conservatively” at nearly $200,000.
Chief Petty Officer Eugene Goetze, serving duty at a Saturday afternoon barbecue at Dinamo Stadium, likened Russia’s transition to that of a soldier going from boot camp to civilian society, where new-found freedoms can be bewildering.
“I see lots of confusion here in Vladivostok,” said Goetze.
At a joint performance of the 7th Fleet band with the Pacific Naval Academy band on the Central Square, nearly 1,000 residents and sailors were treated to a smattering of Russian and American military and contemporary songs, the theme song to the movie “Titanic” eliciting the loudest cheers from the crowd.
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