Mistral-Class Ship Built for Russia Sets Sail
The Mistral-class helicopter carrier Vladivostok, carrying the first crew of some 200 Russian sailors, has finished a series of tests early Monday morning. ● The Vladivistok set off from the French port of Saint-Nazaire for sea trials on September 13, and is scheduled to go to sea again on Tuesday with its second crew on board, according to a RIA Novosti source. The $1.2 billion contract for the manufacture of the Mistral-class ships between French ship builder DCNS and Russia's state-run arms trade intermediary Rosoboronexport was signed in June 2011. The first carrier, the Vladivostok is to be deployed by the Russian Navy in 2014, while the second ship, the Sevastopol, will arrive in 2015.