Just returned from our SHARKHUNTERS & EAGLEHUNTERS participation in the 300th Anniversary of the Russian Navy.

We have enjoyed some great trips over the years, but absolutely nothing so fantastic as this one. There will be short reports of the various activities we experienced in this issue, along with some comparisons of the 1995 tour to Russia and Ukraine.

DAY 1 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

We arrived in the magnificent city of St. Petersburg, got checked in at our hotel and in the evening, we received a tour of the largest sailing ship in the world - the 4-masted ship SEDOV. We then had champagne and refreshments with the officers and crew of the ship.

DAY 2 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

In the morning, we toured the Central Naval Museum with the Senior Archivist as our guide. The same lady security guard was there that I met in 1992, then again during our last tour in 1995. I speak no Russian but a little German, and this lady spoke German very well. We always have a friendly meeting there in the Museum.

In the afternoon, we toured the summer residence of Peter the Great called Patrovoretets, which means ‘Peter’s Palace’. Catchy name, isn’t it?

So far in our 1996 trip, there is nothing new over our 1995 trip other than the visit to the tall ship. But wait; there is a LOT more!

In the evening, our group enjoyed a visit aboard the cruiser AURORA with the Commanding Officer (RADM Lev-Davidovich Chernavin, soon to be a new Member), as well as with other officers of the ship. Another distinguished friend on board was the former Commanding Officer of the Black Sea Navy, a retired full Admiral. We also had the distinct pleasure of our good friend CAPT. 1st Rank VLADIMIR VASUKOV (4400-1995) on board AURORA as well. He is C.O. of the 21st Anti-Submarine Flotilla in Sevastopol and we were his guests aboard his magnificent cruiser KERTCH in 1995. He was in St. Petersburg with one of his frigates for the 300th Anniversary festivities.

It was a shot from a gun from this cruiser that signaled the start of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918, and the ship is maintained as a memorial ship in the same manner as USS CONSTITUTION in the USA and HMS VICTORY in England. She is a beautiful ship.

We were given a tour of the ship, then retired to the officer’s wardroom for refreshments, good fellowship - and many toasts with glasses filled to the brim with good Russian vodka. Thanks to my friend VLADIMIR, I received a special tour forward into the Admiral’s cabin and wardroom, complete with the actual piano of the former Czar of Russia.

When the evening was ending, we all received small memento flags from RADM Chernavin - of the submarine OMSK; of the cruiser AURORA; and of the Russian Navy with the 300th Anniversary Seal on it. As a personal gift from the Admiral, I was given a bright orange cap that said, in Russian I was a veteran of the Soviet Navy.

To compare with our 1995 trip so far;

In 1995 we did not visit aboard a tall ship, because there were none in St. Petersburg at that time;
In 1995 we did not visit on board the cruiser AURORA.

DAY 3 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

After breakfast, we went to the Admiralty; the former Russian Naval Headquarters, which is now the HQ for the Leningrad Naval Area where we met with the new Commander, RADM Alexander Kornilov (soon to be a new Member). He was a gracious host, and showed us the ‘battle plan’ for the 300th Anniversary celebration, with the positions of ships and flights of aircraft.

Our friend RADM Chernavin gave me a bright orange cap with gold lettering proclaiming me to be a veteran of the Soviet Navy.

Late in the morning, our deluxe bus took us to the Russian Naval Academy for a tour of that beautiful and historic facility and our meeting with another soon-to-be new Member, the Commandant, RADM Boris Popov. During our tour, we saw the classrooms, looked at the magnificent paintings on the long hallways and were graciously received by Admiral Popov and his staff.

In the afternoon, we enjoyed a private visit aboard the WW II Soviet submarine NARODOVOLETS. This boat saw considerable service during the war and at one time, even got entangled in an anti-submarine net but was able to work its way out before German ASW units could discover what a big fish they had in the net.

Our guide was the curator of this very nice museum, himself a Soviet submarine commander, but he Skippered a nuclear boat and not a wartime diesel boat.

To commemorate our visit, each of our group was given a small flag of the NARODOVOLETS as well as a beautiful silver medal.

Later in the afternoon, we were received by the Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg, Mr. Igor Visotsky and many of his staff. Again, we were treated with the highest degree of friendliness and were most welcome by this group.

We enjoyed fruit juice, Pepsi - and the always present vodka. By the time we departed for the evening’s cultural events, we have all made new friends.

DAY 4 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

We visited our friend VICTOR SURIKOV (4424-1995), Mayor of the fortress town of Kronshtadt. We were received by VICTOR then his assistant, Elena Ivanova hosted us on a tour of the Naval Base and on board a ship for a thorough tour. They presented each of our group with a small flag & a medal, commemorating our visit.

I learned that Elena read and translates our complete KTB Magazine to VICTOR each month as it arrives. And Elena learned that that is indeed, my photograph on page 2 of each KTB.

From Kronshtadt, we drove to the ‘DIAMOND’ shipyards, which was until last year, a top secret facility. We toured again with Mr. Vladimir Tchernienko, the Director of the shipyard, and looked at new ships being built - as well as a kiosk they were building for McDonald’s! How things have changed since the removal of the ‘Iron Curtain’!

In the afternoon, we were guests on board the frigate PITLYVY, one of the ships of the 21st ASW Flotilla based in Sevastopol, which is commanded by our good friend CAPTAIN 1st RANK VLADIMIR VASUKOV (4400-1995) for a reception (with many vodka toasts). He & this ship were in St. Petersburg for the 300th Anniversary celebration. After touring the ship, VLADIMIR put one of the ship’s launched at our disposal and we toured up and down the Neva River for a couple hours.

All our Members were given a beautiful commemorative flag with the name of the ship, and a photograph of the ship herself. For SHARKHUNTERS and EAGLEHUNTERS, he gave us a plaque with the crest of the ship, and for myself, a small Russian Naval flag, known as a burgee.

In the evening, our group went to TROIKA, the most fabulous nightclub in St. Petersburg and possibly in all of Russia. The floor show was great, the singers talented, and the dancers beautiful.

DAY 5 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

The morning of day 5, Wednesday 24 June, we went to the airport Pulkovo I and boarded our Aeroflot flight for the Crimea. As always, this was a smooth flight on new planes. RUSS WITTENBERG (2118-1992) is a Captain for United airlines, and a Boeing 777 pilot. We got him and his wife, Margot, into the cockpit and RUSS was very impressed with the equipment and the level of skill of the pilots. I was invited into the cockpit as well, but for some reason, they would not allow me to fly the plane. Oh well, maybe next year. Just kidding folks, but you get a spectacular view out the front window of the plane.

We soon arrived at Simpheropol Airport and boarded our luxury Mercedes Benz bus for the drive through the beautiful Crimean mountains to our hotel, the Yalta Hotel. We are told that this is the natural habitat of the most beautiful ‘Night Butterflies’ in all of the former Soviet Union. What kind of ‘Night Butterflies’ are these? They are the most beautiful - and the most expensive - ‘Ladies of the Evening’ in the country. This makes for interesting ‘people watching’ around the outdoor cafe once the sun goes down.

Early to bed for our group; we have many historic castles to visit tomorrow. But the beach of the Black Sea is right outside our modern hotel, so there is time for a last minute stroll along the shore - perhaps a coke or a beer at one of the outdoor cafes that line the beach, then finally off to sleep.

DAY 6 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

This was our ‘palace’ day. In the morning, we boarded our boat for the visit to the picturesque ‘SWALLOW’S NEST’ seen in this photo. According to legend, a Russian nobleman had a gypsy girlfriend but whenever he was away for a battle or for whatever these nobles used to do for a hobby, she would hop from bed to bed with his buddies who had the good sense to stay home from the wars. So he built this retreat on a steep cliff over the Black Sea, and there his gypsy lady was imprisoned until his return. I know this doesn’t fit today’s concept of ‘Women’s Lib’ but back then it worked -- sort of.

After lunch, we visited the magnificent Palace ALUPKA, former home of Prince Vorontsov, who wanted as much beauty in his palace as space would allow.. Therefore, the place is jam packed with beautiful artifacts, statues, frescos, paintings etc. We spent a leisurely afternoon here, then back to our hotel for the evening.

DAY 7 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

This was a relatively quiet but historical day, as our group visited the Palace ‘LIVADIA’ which was the winter home of the last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II. It was also the place where Roosevelt, Churchill & Stalin met to carve up Germany and Europe, since the war in the European Theater was all but over.

We spent a leisurely afternoon in the farmer’s market in Yalta, where we bought great fruit and other produce. In the evening, we enjoyed a night club show at the hotel.

DAY 8- RUSSIA/UKRAINE

Our deluxe Mercedes bus took us to Balaklava. We toured the harbor that had been the base of the Black Sea Navy submarines. We walked the perilous goat path out on the promontory to look across the harbor at the hidden entrance to the secret submarine base INSIDE the mountain. When we return in 1997, we will go in this subterranean complex, photos will be allowed of course.

We drove to the fabled ‘VALLEY OF DEATH’ where the sons of the British nobility met their death during the Crimean War in the famous ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’.

We visited Sapon Mountain and the panorama of the defense of Sevastopol during WW II where a great many artillery pieces and other artifacts are on display; but the German trenches and bunkers are still there - and we went inside them! It was indeed a voyage back into history. We also visited the panorama and Memorial of the Crimean War. Both panoramas are just magnificent.

Once we checked in our hotel in Sevastopol (always an adventure) we visited the Black Sea Navy Museum and had a walking tour of the downtown area of this old and picturesque city. We were joined by Anna Vasukov, daughter of our good friend CAPTAIN 1st RANK VLADIMIR VASUKOV (4400-1995).

DAY 9 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

This was the most AWESOME day of our visit to Russia and Ukraine - and for that matter, the most awesome of any tour by our SHARKHUNTERS and EAGLEHUNTERS anywhere ever!

We made an early start to the harbor for the 300th Anniversary Celebration of the Russian Navy. We were the honored guests of ADMIRAL VICTOR KRAVCHENKO and REAR ADMIRAL GUENNADY SUCHKOV (new Members), the Commander and the Deputy Commander of the Black Sea Fleet.

We were ushered to our seats in the grandstand by Russian Marines. Crowd control was by human waves of Russian Marines and Navy with a few SPEZNAZ (Russian SEALS) here and there. Directly across the bay from where we sat, perhaps 300 yards, were the four cruisers at anchor. Our favorite and the largest, KERTSCH, was shining brightly in the morning sun. This is the ship we visited in 1995; where we were treated so well by the staff.

ADMIRAL KRAVCHENKO, a former submariner, and his staff made the rounds of the cruisers where they were received with roaring cheers at each ship. They came to the seawall in front of the grandstand and were seated in the reviewing stand for what was the most impressive naval display ever seen by any of our Members!

Very quickly, a massive hovercraft made its way down the bay and when it was directly in front of our reviewing stand, began to fire all her weaponry! These were HOT LOADS, no blanks, all out into the Black Sea. Other ships followed in turn and the third ship was a guided missile frigate which, when immediately in front of us, fired one of the big missiles similar to the U.S. ‘TOMAHAWK’ missiles. As this missile streaked out of the harbor, another streak was seen leaving the shoreside battery in pursuit - an anti-missile missile was in pursuit. Shortly there was a massive explosion a mile or so into the Black Sea. Too bad if the fishing fleet was out . . .

A sub-chaser came past, firing all her forward-throwing ‘HEDGEHOGS’ which were making nice splashes and explosions in the water - then she launched a torpedo! A few seconds later, there was a thundering explosion against the seawall.

A huge armored amphib came past and opened the front doors, letting about a dozen smaller amphibian assault vessels out and they made their way towards the shore, with medium and heavy machine guns blazing all the time.

It would be difficult to pick the one great highlight of this celebration, because it was all absolutely superb - but my favorite was; during the time ADMIRAL KRAVCHENKO was speaking, he announced to the perhaps one million in the crowd plus the radio and television audience that the international submarine history group SHARKHUNTERS were the honored guests of the Black Sea Navy for the 300th Anniversary of the Russian Navy.

Anna Vasukov was with us for this fantastic time, and she brought some nice gifts for myself, from her family. I have a beautiful “T” shirt with the crest of the Russian Navy on it, and it says ‘300th Anniversary of the Russian Navy’. She also brought a bottle of very nice Champagne.

The “T” shirt came back to the USA with me - the Champagne did not. Since this was part of our fantastic time in this area, we had the Champagne chilled and served with our ‘Farewell Dinner’ in Moscow a week later. It was really good wine.

We gave Anna and her father, CAPT. VLADIMIR VASUKOV (4400-1995) each SHARKHUNTERS hats and “T” shirts so they can be ‘in uniform’ when we see them next year. Anna will probably be our guest in the USA in 1997.

We returned to the hotel for lunch and to clean up from the morning in the sun, then we headed to the submarine base where we were met by CAPTAIN 1st RANK VLADIMIR ANIKIN (new Member) and CAPTAIN 2nd RANK VLADIMIR GUDKOV (new Member). ANIKIN is an officer of the HQ of the Black Sea Navy, and GUDKOV is Deputy Commander of the submarine base. These two men were a great help, and gave us a great tour of the submarine base, the submarines and the Museum.

One of our new friends gave me personally, a Russian Submarine Commander’s wrist watch. It is beautiful, with the numbers in a black circle while the center of the watch has the blue of the ocean and a ‘TYPHOON’ Class boomer submarine. There is no numeral ‘12’ but instead there is a RED STAR in its place.

We toured the submarine B-565, a FOX TROT, where we met in the officer’s wardroom with our officer friends and a few others. That was one real crowded wardroom! We participated in the traditional ceremony for the return of a Russian submarine with red wine and dark chocolate. When we finished, each of our group was called by name and handed a certificate announcing that we were ‘Honorary Russian Submariners’. We did not get to take the sub. out for a test ride, however.

Each of our group was given a beautiful pennant, a pin with the message of the 300th Anniversary, and a photo of the submarine. We gave a SHARKHUNTERS/EAGLEHUNTERS ‘Friendship Plaque’ which we did at every place we visited. We also gave SHARKHUNTERS caps to the officers, so they can be in the proper uniform when we return next year.

We retired to the Submarine Museum, where we enjoyed a great reception and dinner with our hosts. there were the usual toasts to the Fleet, to our countries, to international friendship but the most moving was the toast by RED NORDENBERG (523-LIFE-1988) who rode USS SARGO during World War II, when he raised a toast to remember all those who did not return in their submarines, no matter what flag flew over the boat. RED is a class guy, and he summed up our motto perfectly, ‘YESTERDAY’S ENEMIES ARE TODAY’S FRIENDS’ with his toast.

The officer presented SHARKHUNTERS with a Russian Admiral’s Flag and a beautiful model of a FOX TROT submarine in a plastic case with a long inscription which, loosely translated, says ‘From the Russian Submariners to SHARKHUNTERS in Friendship’. This is in a very special place in our HQ. CAPTAIN GUDKOV gave me personally, a blue and white stripped Russian sailor’s shirt, saying that it was like the one he once wore, and it always gave him good luck.

We made many good friends this day, and we lived a moment in history. We were a tired group as we said our ‘farewells’ to our friends at the Russian Submarine Base and began our hour-long bus ride back to the deluxe Yalta Hotel and some well-earned sleep.

DAY 10 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

This was the easiest day of all - we got up late, had a leisurely breakfast, then our Mercedes bus took us to the airport where we boarded a flight to Moscow. We checked into our 4 Star hotel, had dinner, then went to bed.

DAY 11 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

On our first day in Moscow, we did the usual tourist things - we rode the Metro (subway) to RED SQUARE. We visited Lenin’s tomb and the others enshrined in the Kremlin walls and on the grounds, including the American John Reed about whom the movie ‘REDS’ was made, starring Warren Beatty.

Lunch today was at the famous Moscow McDonald’s and although the place was jam-packed with people, the service was quick and the food tasted just like back home - and it was even a bit less expensive as well! A Big Mac, fries and a medium Coke cost only 18,000! That’s Rubles, not Yankee Dollars. That’s just a tad over three and a half bucks American.

We toured the beautiful Kremlin grounds, inside the church that holds the remains of many of the Russian Czars and their families - including ‘IVAN THE TERRIBLE’ and Nicholas II, whose entire family was executed during the Bolshevik Revolution. We took the bus tour of Moscow and returned to the hotel.

DAY 12 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

Our bus takes us to the armored training base at Kubinka, where we visit the LARGEST Armor Museum in the world. This very special Museum is not open to the public - and for the first time EVER, photos and videotaping WERE allowed. After visiting through this fantastic museum, our bus took us to the tank training ground where we boarded a T-34 tank that actually was at Kursk, and we went for a ride over hill and dale, as a poet might say. In 1995 our group rode this tank for perhaps 50 feet in the parking lot. This time we rode about one kilometer out, then the same back again. Anyone wanting to drive the tank this time got their wish. We had hoped to drive the tank ourselves in 1995, but this never happened. In 1996, any of our group who wanted to, drove the tank. In 1997 when we return, we will again drive the tank.

On the return to our hotel in Moscow, we stopped at the newly opened World War II Memorial. This is a HUGE Memorial, and it now houses many of the Regimental Standards of the German Army that had at one time been in the Red Army Museum. Right in front was the standard of the Leibstandarde Adolf Hitler, probably the best known military standard since that of the 10th Roman Legion, which was Caesar’s favorite.

After dinner at our hotel, we went to the world-famous Moscow Circus. This is a superb show and I personally always look forward to our evening at the Moscow Circus.

DAY 13 - RUSSIA/UKRAINE

This was a FIRST! We were the first civilian group and the first group from the West ever allowed into the formerly top-secret KHRUNICHEV Rocket Building facility! This is where they build the ‘PROTON’ Rockets, similar in yield and power to the American ‘SATURN’ Rockets. We were allowed to take all the photographs and videotapes we wanted as we toured past rockets in various stages of completion. We also toured around and inside the other MIR space station, exactly like the one in outer space. A long time ago, I was a supervisor for the Motorola Company based in Chicago, and I found this tour especially interesting since there were Motorola satellites sitting all over the place, waiting for a ‘PROTON’ rocket to send them into orbit.

Each person in our group received a beautiful brochure, telling about this rocket plant as well as a small flag with a picture of MIR on it.

After touring the rocket assembly plant we rode to the YURI GARGARIN Air Force Academy where pilots the rank of Major and above are trained as Squadron Leaders. We ate lunch there, then toured the Air Force Museum.

After a quiet hour or two back at the hotel, we joined as a group for the ‘FAREWELL’ Dinner. This is always a high point as well as a low point of our tours. A high point because we all met new friends and will keep in contact for years; a low point when we realize that this historical time is now history for us as well, and it is all over. Tomorrow we take the non-stop flight from Moscow to New York, then we scatter to the four points of the compass.

This was the most awesome, fantastic, memorable tour ever associated with our SHARKHUNTERS & EAGLEHUNTERS. A great deal of the thanks goes to our Russian partners, Anna and Olga; to our friends in the Russian Navy at Leningrad, Kronshtadt, in Ukraine, at the Black Sea Navy and in Moscow. SUPERB!