Posted on 04/01/2013 1:32:07 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Russian Warship Gets Holy Water Blessing
© Photo JSC Shipbuilding plant «Severnaya verf»
MOSCOW, April 1 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s newest Baltic Fleet warship was sprinkled with holy water during a blessing over the weekend, a Navy spokesman said on Monday.
The Project 20380 Boiky corvette, which is currently undergoing sea trials, was blessed by a priest in a ceremony attended by the corvette’s crew, said Baltic Fleet spokesman Capt. 2nd Rank Vladimir Matveyev.
The priest blessed the corvette’s hull, weapons systems and superstructures, as well as the ship’s interior.
The trials are due to end by mid-April, Matveyev said.
The 20380 class, designed by the Almaz naval design bureau and built at St. Petersburg's Severnaya Verf shipyard, is optimized for antisubmarine and surface warfare and support for land operations. The class incorporates stealth technology, which has considerably reduced its radar and infrared signatures.
The 20380 class can be equipped with Kh-35 anti-ship missiles and 3M-54 Klub cruise missiles, Kashtan anti-aircraft gun/missile systems, a main 100-mm gun and two 30-mm close-range air defense guns, as well as torpedo tubes, according to naval-technology.com. It also has a hangar and deck for operating a Kamov Ka-27 anti-submarine warfare helicopter, and is fitted with a Vinyetka-EM towed-array sonar.
She is a real beauty!
There must be something in the Russian soul that compels them to design that graceful look into everything but their carriers.
Meanwhile, we get turkeys like the Littoral combat ship.
Looks like a yacht!
“The corvette’s the inboard ship. Crossing over.”
Russians are gearing up for something—and that scares me. What do they know that we do not? having the ship blessed shows how they have rejected atheistic Communism. I bet the ship even has its own chapel and Icons.
The Orthodox Church may yet be the salvation of Russia.
It’s possible that its roots run deeper than either communism or corruption.
If so, proof of the Holy Spirit at work in the world.
FWIW, I am not of the Orthodox faith tradition, but one cannot help but admire the power of the Spirit that considers against all odds a pretty fair fight.
Bonus Points: The Orthodox Church does not seem to be easily deceived by the oxymoron of moderate Muslims.
30 years ago, I would have placed the odds of me seeing this in my lifetime at zero.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3003535/posts
Wonderful!
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