Northern Fleet rescue ship Igor Belousov to participate in joint Russian-Vietnamese exercise.

Today, Northern Fleet rescue ship Igor Belousov, which left Vladivostok on November 22, arrived at Cam Ranh port with a business call. The ship will be involved in the first Russian-Vietnamese exercise to assist a submarine crew in distress lying on the ground. The exercise will be held on December 3-8 in the South China Sea.

Rescue ship Igor Belousov (Picture source: Russian MoD)

Onboard the ship is Bester 1 deep-towed vehicle AS-40 which will be involved in the exercise.

It is planned that within two days Cam Ranh base will host the first stage of the exercise, during which the sides will hold a conference on actions of rescue forces. Then the ships and vessels of the two countries head for the sea to conduct practical tasks.

In course of the exercise, the Russian delegations are headed by Chief of the Navy Staff - First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Vice Admiral Andrei Volozhinsky.

The vessel is designed for the rescue of crews of distressed submarines, lying aground or staying in buoyancy, and also for life-support of the crew of the rescued submarine. The ship can be also used for the development of shelves, the performance of underwater technical works, search and survey of emergency objects in assigned sector.

The ship is equipped with the following rescue system: a towing hunter, providing search of objects not only lying aground but also buried in ground at depths up to 1,500 m; work remotely operated vehicle «Pantera+» for survey of underwater objects and performance of underwater works at depths up to 1000 m; unique deep-sea salvage complex for rescue of submarines of a distressed submarine and also for performance of diving operations at depths up to 450 m; unparalleled deep submergence rescue vehicle «Bester-1» ,which is used directly for rescue of crews of distressed submarines at depths up to 700 m.