SEVASTOPOL, June 24. /TASS/: The Admiral Makarov frigate of the Black Sea Fleet is heading into the Mediterranean to join Russia’s standing naval force, the Fleet’s press office said on Wednesday.
"The Black Sea Fleet’s Admiral Makarov frigate has begun transiting the Black Sea straits of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles towards the Mediterranean Sea," the fleet said in a statement.
The frigate crew is on a scheduled trip from the Black Sea into an off-shore maritime zone. The Admiral Makarov is due to join the standing naval force.
The Admiral Makarov is the third Project 11356 blue-water frigate named after Imperial Russian Navy Commander, Oceanographer and Vice-Admiral Stepan Makarov. The Project 11356 frigates have a displacement of 4,000 tonnes, a length of 124.8 meters, a speed of 30 knots and their sea endurance is 30 days. They are armed with Kalibr-NK cruise missiles, Shtil-1 surface-to-air missile complexes, A-190 100mm artillery guns, air defense artillery, rocket launchers and torpedoes and can also carry a deck-based Kamov Ka-27 (or Ka-31) helicopter.