Russian military ships in Ireland. The Russian Destroyer “Admiral Chabanenko” in Dublin.
We are often asked if Russians living in Ireland meet up with each other and if so, for what reasons. A short answer is that they meet up to see traditional Russian festivals, such as the Orthodox Christmas, the Old-New Year, festivals of Russian Culture and of course the Day of Victory on the 9th of May. Today we’ll tell you about an event that had nothing to do with Russian festivals, yet it attracted a lot of Russians living in Ireland.
This event was the arrival of the Russian Admiral Chabanenko in Dublin. Truthfully it was our first time visiting a real life army ship and the fact that it was Russian made the visit that little bit sweeter. The time given to visit this ship was restricted to two hours the queue wasn’t a small one.
As soon as we stepped on the deck of the ‘Admiral Chabanenko’ we realized that these types of ships aren’t as large as we thought, only 160 metres long. But what amazed us was the cleanness of the deck. An interesting fact is that the deck doesn’t get painted, but only rubbed by graphite. No offence to women everywhere, but not every house is as clean as the deck area of that ship.
The officers and sailors of the ship were all dressed in dress clothes, which made them look smart and hospitable. We think that they were glad that they could talk to the guests in their native language after their long journey from the shores of America, where the ‘Admiral Chabanenko’ took part in the exercise of ‘Frukus 2011’. There, along with ships from the USA, France and Great Britain it took part in drills that were essential for capturing Somali pirates.
The officer that was the ships tour guide told us how the Russian Destroyer ‘Admiral Chabanenko’ took part in the capturing of the Somali pirates and how the pilots of the ship’s helicopter showed off their skill in a category 5 storm.
For people like us, that know almost nothing about navy technology, it was very interesting to hear about the general workings of a thing as complicated as an army ship. Even adults were amazed by the strength of the ships weapons, which included torpedoes, a helicopter and even cruise missiles.
Despite its rather small size this ship has 300 crewmembers living on board. This means that being organised and doing economical jobs is essential for long distance travels. To feed all the ships crew members for a day requires the work of ten cooks.
It’s great to know that army ships like the ‘Admiral Chabanenko’ visit other countries, where they are treated like guests. It’s also good to know that the Irish army ship ‘Aisling’ is planning on visiting the Russian city of Saint Peterburg this August.
In conclusion we would to note this event made Ireland feel more connected to the sea. As do the other festivals connected to the sea, like Maritime Festival or the Tall Ships Races. So if you are planning on visiting Ireland, we would like to say that if you visit Ireland in the Summer you can have a larger variety of thing to do that will help you fully enjoy life on this island.