Vladivostok - Home of Hollywood film star Yul Brynner
31 October 2007
Vladivostok is Russia's largest port city on the Pacific Ocean and is situated not far from the Russo-Chinese border and North Korea. It is home to the Russian Pacific Fleet and during the Soviet years was even closed to foreigners.
Of historical importance, in 1974 Vladivostok was where Leonid Brezhnev and Gerald Ford conducted the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks focused on limiting the United States and Russia's stocks of nuclear weapons; a significant milestone during the Cold War years.
Yet another early start for HMAS Parramatta's bridge team, at 0300 they were greeted with good morning comrade welcome to Russia from our escort, Russian Federation Ship Tarantul. The heavy Russian accent over the bridge radio made for a rather euphoric moment for the bridge staff as this formally commenced our journey into Vladivostok and placed Parramatta as the third Royal Australian Navy ship to visit the port in recent time.
HMAS Parramatta berthed next to four Russian Udaloy destroyers. Mediterranean berthing is used in Vladivostok to allow more ships along the wharf.
At 0730 Parramatta embarked our Russian pilot and Commanding Officer of our host ship, Captain First Rank Vislov, of the Russian Federation Ship Marshall Shaposhnikov. The sight of Russian military uniforms on the bridge overlooking charts confirming our berthing arrangements was quite a surreal sight.
With final preparations out of the way Parramatta readied herself for the challenge of Mediterranean mooring, involving the ship proceeding astern toward the wharf and dropping both anchors at specific points. The greatest challenge remains suppressing the movement astern by employing anchor brakes and applying ahead motion in order to place the stern of the ship close enough the mooring lines to square the stern against the wharf. Normally this evolution is tricky and one that requires critical timing. In our case this was made even more precarious due to the added step of translating orders backward and forward between the pilot and our Captain.
With the mooring complete the customary welcome ceremony commenced, where CMDR Goddard reported to the Second Secretary Australian Embassy Moscow Mr. Patrick Farley, and said " Parramatta had made it to Vladivostok safely".
The ceremony was sealed with the "breaking of the bread", where the bread is dipped in salt and consumed by both parties.
The Vladivostok port visit was a busy one for Parramatta's ship's company with official calls and events occurring throughout the visit.
Members of HMAS Parramatta and MARSHAL SHAPOSHNIKOV Wardrooms on the fo'csle of HMAS Parramatta. After a tour and lunch. Parramatta personnel L-R: LEUT Wakefield, LEUT Hogan, SBLT Sanders, SBLT Littlejohn, LEUT Patterson, LCDR Papp (XO), SBLT Nicol.
Luncheons and tours were held onboard both Parramatta and our host ship. Although with only minimal personnel speaking both Russian and English, interpreters were heavily relied on. The warmth of the Russian officers and sailors was genuine and well received. Much of the departing conversations centred on the port visit being too short and their desire to host the crew of Parramatta in a more informal setting.
Frequent comments were also made on the similarities between us both. Although we wear different uniforms, we have much in common and enjoy the simple things in life; namely, our health, our family and our friends.
A wreath laying ceremony was conducted at the Military Glory of Pacific Naval Memorial, the site of a World War II submarine museum exhibit, to commemorate those servicemen who had lost their lives during previous wars.
A local private school received a brief presentation onboard Parramatta on the subject of Australian history and culture, from our Navigator, LEUT Zane Geary and a bridge watchkeeper, LEUT Amy Ryan.
LEUT Ryan was quite surprised by their knowledge of Australian history and desire to want to learn more. She stated, "We could have stayed for hours talking about our culture, not just because they wanted to know more, but so they could practice their English with us, it was a real thrill"!
The highlight of the visit for many was the 4-hour visit to a local orphanage by 30 members of Parramatta's ship's company and the Task Group band. A number of small gifts were presented to the children and although the language barrier was ever present, the sheer delight on the faces of the children required no interpreter and there wasn't a dry eye in the place!
SMNBM Merrick entertains a girl at the orphanage.
The band played a number of classic Australian songs followed by some more hip hop dance songs for the children to dance to with some of the crew; another amazing sight to see, there were smiles everywhere.
SMN Merrick and LEUT Tindal at the orphanage.
At the request of the Orphanage management, Parramatta's group had a heavy male influence. No sooner had we walked through the door did this reason become very apparent. The children were unabashed at grabbing your hand and escorting you to their little spot within the play room. They would smile at you, play simple games with you and in some cases they just wanted to be sat next to; the affection they showed warmed you to your core.
Parramatta's Physical Trainer, LS Matt Hillyard, took on a small army of budding wrestlers, aged between 9 and 16 years of age, in their gym. He said, "What surprised me the most was not just the strength as their age increased but their cunningness and ability to pin me down. They really enjoyed it and so did I." You could really sense how much they missed a male influence.
The young girls in the orphanage baked sweet breads for afternoon tea. Their apprehension was very obvious as they waited for us to start eating, but this soon turned to enjoyment as they could see their efforts were being consumed with gusto!
The children from the orphanage who attended the ship tour of HMAS Parramatta.
This wasn't the end for the group, two days later the orphanage was hosted onboard for a tour. Again the delight was obvious, even by those who hadn't visited the orphanage earlier in the week. I think the positive mark the crew of Parramatta left on these less than fortunate children and in turn they onto us, would be remembered for a lifetime - thank you.
As the port visit drew to a close, Parramatta hosted the official reception for over 150 guests, including local dignitaries and military personnel. Like previous port visits the Australian cuisine and beverages were very well received and the customary Ceremonial Sunset featured frequently in the conversations of departing guests.
Although the sight seeing wasn't necessarily to the same level as our previous ports, experiencing Russian culture, was a first for nearly all onboard, equalled if not surpassed anything we've experienced thus far on our Goodwill North East Asian Deployment.
LSET Floyd looks over a Russian Destroyer as HMAS Parramatta departs.
