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Norwegian frigate to Severomorsk

The KNM Otto Sverdrup (mil.no)

Norway’s new KNM Otto Sverdrup will this week sail to the Russian Northern fleets main base.

Location

The official visit to Severomorsk will be the first to Russia made by one of the new Royal Norwegian Navy’s frigates. The visit happens at the same time as Barents Rescue 2009 takes place later this week. The rescue exercise includes both civilian and military personnel from Russia, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

The KNM Otto Sverdrup is named after the famous Norwegian Arctic explorer and was included in the Norwegian Navy in May last year. The vessel is the third new Norwegian frigate of the Nansen-class, a top modern and heavily equipped war ship.

KNM Otto Sverdup is normally safeguarding the Norwegian coast, oil and gas installations and in the High North where Norway has strategic interests. In October last year, BarentsObserver.com reported that the vessel visited Svalbard and raised flag in Longyearbyen, the administrative centre at the Norwegian archipelago in the northern Barents Sea.

The armament on the new Norwegian frigates includes torpedoes and a 76-mm cannon, according to the website of the Norwegian armed forces. The vessels will also be equipped with depth charges for anti-submarine warfare, Evolved Sea Sparrow anti-air missiles, and the Norwegian anti-ship missile NSM. The permanently stationed helicopter aboard the vessels can also be equipped with depth charges and torpedoes.

This week, Norway’s brand new coastguard vessel KV Barentshav also visits the Russian north, anchored next to the world’s first civilian nuclear powered vessel, the icebreaker Lenin, in the central harbour of Murmansk.  

BarentsObserver.com reported earlier this week that the Norwegians in Murmansk will meet their Russian colleagues to discuss issues like the situation on the Norwegian-Russian border, control with biological resources in the Barents Sea and further development of the cooperation between Norwegian and Russian border guard and coast guard services.

Barents Rescue will take place from the 8th till the 11th of September as earlier reported by BarentsObserver.com.