According to information published by Tass on April 12, 2022, the Northern Fleet’s minesweepers Vladimir Gumanenko and Yelnya have practiced detecting and neutralizing mines in the Barents Sea while leading ships and submarines.
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Project 12660 (Gorya class) minesweeper Vladimir Gumanenko (Picture source: Russian MoD)
The seamen practiced leading the ships, using the whole set of anti-mine weapons, including sonars and sweeps of various types. At the final stage of the exercise, the minesweepers Vladimir Gumanenko and Yelnya will conduct artillery live-firing against a floating mine.
The Project 12660 minesweeper Vladimir Gumanenko is designed to search for and neutralize mines in blue waters, conduct minesweeping at great depths, eliminate deep-water torpedo mines, sonar buoys, and other underwater objects at a depth of up to 1,000 m and lead nuclear-powered submarines to the operational sea area.
The Vladimir Gumanenko has a displacement of over 1,100 tons, an operational range of 1,500 miles, and a cruising capacity of 15 days, which makes it the largest minesweeper of the Northern Fleet.
The Gorya class is a group of minesweepers built for the Soviet Navy in the late 1980s. Three ships were started of which two were completed and are in service with the Russian Navy. The Soviet designation was Project 12660. A total of twenty ships were planned, but the program was stopped by the collapse of the Soviet Union.
