Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Peter the Great Update: oooo rah. PtG to Enter Med by End of the Week

Marines on the Peter the Great practice for the big exercise with the Venezuelans. Port call in Libya announced.



Gist: After covering 4500km with at least 14,000km to go and passing through many time zones the battle group still lives on Moscow time. The Marines on board began an exercise at 0800 defending the ship as it passes through narrow straits like the Straits of Gibraltar which the Peter the Great will pass through at the end of the week when she receives new orders from the CinC Navy. Our Marines will be exercising not only in Venezuela, but also during a port call in Tripoli, Libya.

The exercises start by checking the cleanliness of weapons and assembling and disassembling weapons which they can do with their eyes closed. Everyone has their assignment on deck. They are armed with mortars (!), machine guns and grenade launchers.

(Practice firing with the target at 500m)

With 45 corridors totalling 20km, the Marines have to be in good shape.

Segment about a member of Nav Department celebrating his 30th birthday at sea.

Segment about the use of AFFF in fire fighting.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Marines may be able to assemble their weapons with their eyes closed but apparently they need to watch carefully to (eventually) fit the bayonet. Fumbling with equipment, going through basic maneuvers at a hesitant walk, heck, they couldn't even give a convincing interview. It's pretty telling when a high-visibility cruise looks like basic training. They better stay away from the Horn of Africa or some Somali pirates are going to have a Navy to go with their new mechanized Army.